Clandestine Heart
by ChaoticIrony
Summary: Sasuke & Sakura find themselves in some very strange situations when Tsunade sends them on the most awkward mission of their lives. Rated M for LEMON/s in later chapters.
1. Tsunades Ultimatum

**Clandestine Heart** by Orochimaruismyman

**A/N **Well, here it is. I have finally got my ass around to writing one of my own stories instead of just reading everybody else's, and here it is. My first fic. I have gone and astounded even myself by writing a sasusaku, I must say that this is probably my one of my **least** favourite pairings, but what are you gonna do? When you get an idea you've just got to run with it right?

Please don't flame the couple though, if you don't like sasusaku then don't read it, and I sympathise with you, cos I probably hate it as much as you do, but i'm a slave to my stupid imagination.

One last thing, there is definitely going to be a lemon (or two) later on in the story, so if you're not into that kinda thing then what are you doing reading an M rated story for anyway and go find something else to read. Sorry, I don't do non-lemon fanfics. What would be the point? You might as well just read the manga.

Oh and I **do not** own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. And its at good thing at that too, 'cos if I did it would definitely not be for the kiddies, lol.

* * *

"_WHAT?"_

Tsunade smirked inwardly at her apprentice's undisguised shock.

"I said . . . you will be required to pose as a married couple . . . "

"- I heard you," Sakura rudely interrupted the Godaime, "but . . . " She faltered.

She looked over to where Sasuke was sitting next to her in front of the Hokage's desk. The stoic Uchiha's expression was, as usual, unreadable to say the least.

"But why me?" she tried again to make her shishou let her out of this awkward situation she was finding herself in. "Why can't one of the other Kunoichi do it?"

"I _am_ the Hokage for a reason, Sakura," the Godaime snapped, losing her patience now, "Don't you think that I have thought this over myself? I have a perfectly good reason for wanting the two of you on this mission."

Sakura lowered her head and looked at her hands, not wanting to incite her shishou's infamous temper any further.

The Hokage stood and walked around to the front of her paper cluttered desk. She leaned back against the front edge and addressed the two shinobi in front of her.

"I have chosen you Sakura because the terms of Sasuke's probation state that he must be accompanied by a jounin level shinobi at all times whilst on a mission. Also, because the two of you were in the same team before Sasuke left I would hope that you should feel comfortable working together and have some knowledge of each other's technique."

Sakura nodded in assent. It was true that before Sasuke had left, the two of them and Naruto had made a pretty successful team, and had become comfortable working together. But truthfully, Sasuke had been away for eight years now. She had no idea of what he was capable of really, and neither did he of her. She had changed so much since he had left, and she was sure that he had as well.

Tsunade continued, "Also it goes without saying, it would be advantageous to have a medic on the team in case it gets a little rough. I have chosen Sasuke because as he is still on probation he needs every opportunity he can get to rise back through the ranks. Also, as simple as this mission may seem, there is always the chance that things could . . . turn ugly. Sasuke may only be a Genin now, which, with this mission being of C-rank is the highest level of shinobi I am willing to spare for such a small fee, but in terms of skill he is easily at jounin level."

She turned to the last of the Uchiha and smirked at him deviously.

"It is also a punishment of sorts."

She addressed him with a highly amused expression on her face. "As you know, Sasuke, during your year of probation you are required to do any inane or unpleasant mission that I see fit, as a sort of . . . test of your renewed loyalty to Konoha."

"-I don't understand, Shishou," Sakura cut in, "how is this mission a punishment to Sasuke?"

Tsunade ignored her apprentice for the time being, and continued to address the dark-haired prodigy before her.

"I know very well that you have . . . difficulty . . . expressing yourself and showing emotions and affections around others, Uchiha."

Sasuke remained silent, but began to glare at the Hokage as if he knew where this was going.

"In doing this mission you will be required to stay in character at _all _times. You must behave, travel, communicate, eat and _sleep_ as if you were a married couple."

Two sets of eyes shot up indignantly at her at that last statement.

She ignored them and continued, "If you intend on staying in Konoha and rebuilding your clan, then you are going to have to work on those non-existent social skills of yours anyway. This is the prime opportunity to push you out of your comfort zone, Uchiha. Sakura will help you, and the two of you must keep up the appearance of a married couple at all times. You never know when someone may be watching you."

She walked forward and handed a scroll to Sakura.

"Sakura, you are team leader. You will find the objectives of the mission in full detail in here. You will leave early tomorrow morning. That is all."

Both shinobi stood and moved towards the door. They didn't look at each other, and both were lost in their own train of thought. Sakura had already moved through the doorway and into the hall and Sasuke stepped forward to follow her, when he heard the Godaime speak again.

"Oh, and Uchiha . . ." she called out.

Sasuke paused in the doorway and turned back to face her. Sakura had also stopped outside the door to hear what her shishou had to say.

"Knowing how difficult this mission is going to be for you, I have decided that _if_ you succeed I will allow you to take the next chuunin exam so you may progress further in your career six months early."

He looked up at her with a slightly surprised and incredulous look in his eyes.

"However," she continued sternly, "if you fail, I shall strip you of your Shinobi status and send you back to the academy. This mission could either be very lucrative or very detrimental to your career, Uchiha," she added sternly.

"So if I were you I would try not to fuck it up."

* * *

The sun beat down on them fiercely from its highest point in the cloudless blue sky as they both finally dropped to the forest floor into a small clearing to take a break.

They had been leaping through the trees at break-neck pace for about the past six hours now and were nearing the outskirts of Fire Country, where they had decided to take a short rest before continuing across the border. Once they left Fire Country they would have to mask their chakra and travel by foot as regular civilians so that no one would have reason to suspect they were ninja. It was also then that their farce as a married couple would begin.

After leaving Tsunade's office the previous evening, they had both gone their separate ways, and Sakura had returned to her cosy little apartment to pack and prepare for the following morning. Once she had packed her bags, checked her medical supplies and restocked her medic's apron, she curled up on her couch to go over the scroll and the details of the mission before them.

Their mission seemed relatively simple. They would travel across the neutral territories to the north-east of fire country, and over into Lightning Country, where the Daimyo was holding a ball to celebrate his son's 21st birthday. Basically an espionage mission, they would then be required to gather as much intel as they could on the level of protection surrounding the Daimyo, and the type of security surrounding and inside the palace. They would also take note of any other pertinent information, such as the size of his entourage, the skill level of his personal bodyguards, the general health status of the Daimyo himself – and anything else which they may deem important.

As far as she could see, as long as they both kept up their guise the mission should be a cinch.

However, therein lay the biggest problem.

She had no idea how Sasuke was going to cope with having to pretend to be her husband. The thought of it was absolutely ludicrous to her. Even if Sasuke _was_ married (here she actually shook her head to try and rid her mind of that strange and unimaginable thought) she imagined he still wouldn't act much differently than the way he was now. However, although _she_ knew that, they had to make other people who didn't know them from a bar of soap believe that they were married, which meant Sasuke was going to get _way_ out of his comfort zone real quick.

And that time was fast approaching.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, there you have it. First chapter was pretty short compared to the rest, but I felt like it had to end here, I know not much happening in this first chapter but never fear, good things will be happening soon, mwahahahahahaHAHAHA. Sasuke, be afraid, be vewy afraid…


	2. A Salty Fixation

**A/N** Ok, so here it is, I surprise you all with the second chapter, just cos it's finally the weekend and I'm feeling rather generous. You lucky people you. This chapter we finally get some thoughts from the stoic Mr Uchiha, so enjoy.

And yes, I'm sure you can tell by now I have a sick fascination with wanting to make Sasuke as uncomfortable as possible, so I'm gonna make him squirm a lot more in the near future. Its payback for the way he treats Sakura in the series.

Oh, and thank you sooooo much to everyone who reviewed. Each and every review was appreciated greatly. They really encourage me to keep writing. Thank you for taking the time.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2 - A Salty Fixation**

They were both sitting in the shade of the trees eating their small lunch in silence . . . no doubt he was as lost in his thoughts as she. Actually, neither had spoken much since they left Konoha, other than the occasional few words that were necessary to gain their bearings and correct their travel path throughout the morning.

Sakura had finished her lunch, and now stood slowly and stepped away from the tree she had sat against and into the path of the gentle breeze. It was stiflingly hot, and she reached up and tugged her hitae-ate off to let the fresh air cool her head.

She lazily rubbed a gloved hand against the back of her tired neck. They had pushed themselves hard to get to the border by midday, so that they could spend the night at an inn in one of the small towns that they knew populated the central plateau of the neutral territory between Fire and Lightning. Standing away from the shade of the trees and in the baking sun again, she felt small beads of perspiration gather on her neck, and she closed her eyes and raised her face into the breeze to let it cool her skin.

Sasuke sat leaning back against the tree, hands in his pockets, one leg stretched out against the dusty floor of the clearing, the other raised slightly at the knee. He hated having to stop when he could have kept going till they reached the inn but he realised the importance of resting, especially in the heat of the day.

He also wanted to let Sakura set the pace, for although he had been back in Konoha for nearly six months, he still didn't have much of an idea at how far Sakura had advanced since they were Genin. He had been kept annoyingly busy with every petty mission that the conniving Godaime had eagerly assigned him to; everything from weeding elderly citizens gardens, to picking up litter around the village streets, and even once having to baby-sit at the preschool for a whole week when the regular minder was chronically ill. That had been an experience he was _not_ ready to repeat in a hurry, and he vividly remembered the moment when he had been fending off several little monsters vying for his attention and yelling a million annoying questions at him at once, when the crying tyke he had been holding and trying to calm down had decided to pee on him. Needless to say he had almost quit right then. He had been so tempted to just march straight to Tsunade's office and tell her that carrying out a lifelong revenge against his brother and consequently battling to the death with one of the most evil shinobi of all time was one thing, but it was nothing compared to this wild pack of feral crying, _peeing_ infants.

It was an insult to his pride . . . an S-class ranked missing-nin, student of the snake Sannin Orochimaru, feared Shinobi, and worst of all an _Uchiha_, reduced to nothing more than a dogsbody.

But still, if he wanted to stay in Konoha and someday rebuild his clan he had to do whatever awful shitjobs the Hokage threw at him.

He sighed inwardly.

Sakura stepped forward and the movement roused him out of his deep thoughts. She was facing slightly away from him, but he could see the outline of her profile as she stood and stretched out in the breeze. He saw her reach up and remove her Hitae-ate, and rub the back of her neck with her hand. Then she raised her face to the wind and closed her eyes.

Sasuke found himself watching her as she cooled herself in the breeze. Her hair was messy from travelling all morning, her cheeks were slightly red from the travelling into the wind and also the heat of the sun, and she was also lightly perspiring, but for some reason he couldn't place he could not stop staring at her. She looked radiant and alive, and the way she faced the sky with her eyes closed made her look so peaceful. The wind blew lazily around her and her loose clothing drew tightly against her body at the front as it tugged the material on its way past her, and gave brief glimpses at the shape of the curves beneath the fabric.

In a bizarre moment of self awareness Sasuke realised he had turned his Sharingan on without even realising it. His brows drew together slightly in distaste at his lack of control. He kept his gaze on Sakura however, and when he looked at her now he could see that the outer corners of her mouth were twitching ever so slightly into what looked to his heightened sense of vision like a faint smile. It was so unnoticeable that it would be impossible for a normal person to detect. It seemed like that gentle, cool breeze on her face was the most wonderful thing in the world to her. He briefly mused that to shinobi like them, such small pleasures probably were.

She brought the arm furtherest away from him up to rub the other side of her neck and shoulder, and as she did her neck stretched away from him into her hand. The motion elongated her neck and made the muscle from her ear to her shoulder more pronounced, and as she moved her head against her hand he noticed a tiny bead of sweat slowly trail down from behind her ear.

He watched entranced as the glistening droplet travelled down her elegant neck painfully slowly, his advanced vision making it seem closer to him, more vivid. He could see the surrounding trees of the clearing reflecting in its glistening surface, he could see the individual pores of her smooth tanned skin and the occasional dot of a freckle magnified beneath it as it ambled down leaving a shiny trail in its wake. He felt like he was hypnotised by the tiny droplet as it leisurely made its way over her collarbone and then to the top of her breast where it sped up and then disappeared down the valley hidden beneath her bindings.

For a moment he couldn't breathe. His mouth felt clammy and dry and he realised he hadn't breathed the entire time he had watched that . . . incident. He felt a strange tingle through his body, and he frowned. He finally managed to swallow and he slipped his tongue out and wet his dry lips. As he did he was still lost in his own little daydream and he had the sudden urge to walk over to her, and casually run his tongue all the way up that salty trail to that little hollow behind her earlobe, and then . . .

"-Do you want to?" Sakura's voice came to his ears suddenly, snapping Sasuke immediately out of his thoughts. He quickly closed his eyes and deactivated his Sharingan, then reopened his eyes just in time to see her turn to look at him. His heart lurched in his chest and began beating furiously.

"What?" he replied with a forced frown, a little more gruffly than he had intended.

Sakura half-frowned and raised one eyebrow questioningly at his sudden bad mood. "I said," she replied irritably, pronouncing her words clearly and precisely like she was talking to a child, "We should get moving now, do you want to?"

Oh.

He felt a strange heat begin to rise from his chest and creep up his neck towards his cheeks, and he realised he was blushing. He stood quickly and turned in what he hoped looked like a natural movement to get his pack from the forest floor beside the tree he had been leaning against. He pretended to check that his bag was evenly packed for the rest of the journey while he willed his face to cool down. It felt like forever but was really only a few seconds when he finally felt safe to turn around again.

The, usually, well-controlled Uchiha managed to keep his face as stoic as ever, as he let out his typical response of, "Hn," but inside his brain was screaming at him. What the hell was he doing? This was _Sakura_ he had just been thinking about. Annoying, bratty, emotions-out-of-control, fan-girl type Sakura, he had just been ogling over like some oversexed dog on heat. He had been acting worse than if you took the porn-reading, obsessed sensei Kakashi and the pervy toad-sage Jiraiya and combined them together to come up with one seriously horny, dirty, not to mention _old_ elite ninja.

Sakura eyed him strangely, then turned and lifted her pack from where she had dropped it by the trees.

"Well I'd better go change then. We walk from here on out." She disappeared into the thick of the bush, to change into clothes appropriate for a young, married, _civilian_ woman to be wearing. If she was spotted in her usual jounin vest, black shorts and medic's apron outside of fire country there would be no mistaking that she was a kunoichi if anyone were to spot them. Sasuke didn't need to change. He had swapped his Uchiha shirt for a plain black one, and he now wore long grey pants instead of his usual white shorts, having worn them since leaving Konoha because he could travel through the trees in his civilian clothes quite easily. Sakura however could not travel safely in a dress, and so had decided to wear her usual clothes to get to the border quickly, and had taken her civilian clothes to change into.

Sasuke sighed and ran his hand through his unruly black hair. He had to get control of himself. For the next five hours or so they would be travelling by foot, but they probably wouldn't come across too many people until they reached the small village about halfway across the neutral territory that they would be stopping the night at. So they were safe to travel casually and, to Sasuke's immense relief, have minimal contact until then. But once they reached the village it would be a whole different story. Then he would just have to suck it up, and put all of these awkward and disturbing feelings behind him and pull off a convincing act of the one human trait that had always been the most difficult thing in the world for him . . . showing affection.

He knew it was not going to be easy. But he was determined that he would pull off the best act of his life if it meant he could advance earlier in his career. It may be difficult behaviour for one usually as detached and cold as he was, but, damn it, he was an Uchiha and he had his pride to think about. How could he ever stand tall and proud as the head of his newly restored clan if he was busted back to the academy for failing a mission as simple as this?

Simple. He couldn't. It wouldn't happen. He wouldn't _let_ it happen. Besides, Sai, Kakashi and especially _Naruto_ would never let him live it down. He would be the laughing stock of Konoha.

No, he was more determined than ever that this would not be the downfall of Uchiha Sasuke. He would show them all that he could do whatever was required to succeed. He was a genius at everything else right? So why shouldn't he be at this? He would prove to the Godaime that she was wrong to presume that he was lacking at anything. He would make her eat her words.

And Sakura. For some reason he wanted to prove it to her too.

He tried to ignore a very unwelcome thought rolling around in his head. The thought that he wanted . . . no . . . _craved_ her approval, and for her to be proud of his emotional achievement by succeeding in this mission. However, he forcefully pushed that thought from his head before he could dwell on its meaning further, and told himself that he just didn't want to be shown up by a mediocre kunoichi like her.

Yes. That's what it was.

He heard a movement from the bushes and he looked towards them and saw a little glimpse of pink peaking through from the shadows, but she didn't emerge any further. What was she doing back there? It dawned on him she had been gone for quite some time.

"Well? Are you coming out?" he called out, trying to sound impatient.

Silence.

He exhaled in a huff of annoyance and just as he was about to call out again, she finally spoke.

"Promise you won't laugh!" she yelled suddenly, sounding hesitant, and rather put out by the whole matter.

He blinked. "Ok. I promise. Now just come out would you? We've got to get going." He couldn't think what could have got her in such a twist. It was only clothes.

Slowly the bushes parted and Sakura hesitantly emerged.

Sasuke's breath caught in his throat for the second time that day.

He didn't know where to look first. From the clothes she was wearing he could see she was trying to look like an average small village girl. Not well-off, but not dirt poor either, a girl with a job probably as a servant or a milk maid, or a kitchen hand maybe. But the way that she looked in it was anything _but_ average.

From the waist up she wore a white top which was gathered across her bosom with an almost pleated effect so that it looked kind of like the way a fan creases. It was rather low cut and showed the tops of her breasts and little bit of cleavage in between. Tucked firmly below her breasts was something that looked to him like a corset, as it was laced up at the front down the centre with a black cord crisscrossing over like shoelaces. It sat so high under her chest that it raised her breasts up and gave them an extra lift, making them appear fuller. The white top underneath the corset was more like a singlet, as it had thin straps which were obviously too long for her as they sat on the outer edge of her shoulders, threatening to slip off if she moved. Her arms were completely bare and he could see fully now, how smooth and tanned and unblemished her skin was.

His eyes travelled down to her skirt, which was plain and black to match the corset, with a white apron over it to fully complete the 'maid' look, but as the skirt ruffled in the breeze, he could see that it was split up each side, and as it moved further he got a glimpse of a smooth thigh.

Why did she choose to wear something like this? Yes, it was fine for what they were doing, and anyone they met would accept her as being a normal village girl. But there were a _million_ other outfits that she could have chosen, most a _lot_ less revealing that this one, which would make him feel a _lot_ more comfortable.

He suddenly realised he had been gawking her up and down blatantly, and his eyes snapped back on her face. She was blushing furiously and looking down at the ground, not daring to look up into his face yet. She lifted her gaze from the floor but looked straight out towards the trees to their right, a pained expression on her face, and before he could say anything she tried to explain it herself.

"Tsunade gave them to me, ok? I don't have any clothes other than my jounin gear, and she insisted I wear these."

He finally composed himself enough to mumble a, "Hn," then he turned to head in the direction of the border and stood and waited patiently till she came to walk beside him, and side by side they began their journey towards the next town, and a whole lot of awkwardness.

Sasuke sighed inwardly.

This was going to be tougher than he thought.

* * *

Well there you have it. Next chapter will probably be a while away yet though. Maybe a week.

Again **PLEASE REVIEW!! **Please. I need them like cookie monster needs cookies. They are the drugs that keep me writing. Gimme my junk.

XD


	3. The Sadist Within

**A/N: **I am so so SO sorry this took so long! Arghh! This chapter was really hard for me, these kind of action scenes are not exactly my forte so please forgive me if it doesn't flow as well as I would have liked it to. It's an extra long chapter though to make up for its lateness, so I hope you like it!

Thankyou all soooo much for your wonderful reviews!! They are all so encouraging and positive and you just make me want to keep writing! So keep it up! :D

As always: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, Masashi-senpai does. XD

* * *

**Chapter 3 - The Sadist Within**

Sasuke pulled his pack off his shoulders, rummaging inside till he found his flask of water and took a long drink of the cool liquid.

They had been travelling for about another four hours now, this time on foot, and the afternoon sun baked down on them fiercely. It wouldn't be long now before they would be entering the small village where they would rest for the evening. It was a place that many Konoha shinobi had stayed at while journeying through the neutral territories, and when Sasuke had mentioned it to Kakashi the night before they left, his former sensei had advised him of a decent inn at which they could stay.

Thankfully, Sakura had donned a light travelling cape to protect her bare arms and shoulders from the harsh sun, so her less than humble outfit could not distract Sasuke again and he had managed to keep his mind on the journey at hand. Neither had spoken really since their stop at the clearing, which suited Sasuke just fine. Soon he would have to do more talking than he had over the course of his entire life anyway. Why rush it?

The only problem was . . . no talking -- meant plenty of time for thinking.

Sasuke was highly disturbed by the strange feelings he had experienced in the short time they had stopped at that clearing. He couldn't believe that he had lost control of himself so easily. Allowing his Sharingan to activate without his knowledge . . . that was something that was simply inexcusable. What if he allowed that to happen again while they were on this mission? Something as careless as that could expose them to the enemy, and then he would have put both his and Sakura's lives in jeopardy.

He mentally slapped himself. He had to get control of his emotions if they were to ever complete this mission successfully. The mission was already turning out to be far more trouble than he originally thought, and that was really saying something because one look at the mischievously evil glint in Tsunade's eyes when she debriefed them told him to expect the worst. He knew that his, so far, short life dedicated solely as an avenger to his clan had caused him to put up walls to those around him, and to mask his feelings from others till he was almost as unreadable as the former ROOT member Sai. But he had never expected to be so out of touch with his emotions. For Kami's sake, they were barely out of Konoha and he was already a mess!

Maybe there was something wrong with him. Perhaps he needed to see the village counsellor. Or maybe it was just that he had been cooped up for almost six months doing mediocre missions within the walls of safe, happy, usually uneventful little Konoha after nearly half a lifetime of being a rogue-nin and he was starting to feel a little bit like a test-mouse trapped in a glass topped maze.

He sighed. This was an annoying complication he was definitely going to have to correct once this mission was over and they returned to Konoha. If they ever actually made it through this mission that is.

Sakura's ears pricked up when she heard Sasuke let out a quiet sigh. It was the first noise he had uttered since they left the clearing, and she wondered what he was thinking about to cause it.

With any other partner for this mission she would have felt uncomfortably awkward with the four hours of silence between them, however she knew Sasuke well enough to know that silence and he, went together hand in hand.

She had to admit though, that she found the sigh he emitted to be a little . . . disconcerting. To let such an obvious telltale of disquiet escape him he must be pretty worked up over something. Uchiha's were not ones to wear their emotions on their sleeve, she had seen enough of Itachi in those few times she had met him to know that expertly masking one's feelings ran in the family.

He had been acting a little more strangely than usual, she was perceptive enough to notice that much. She had felt his eyes on her several times throughout their journey, first at the clearing and then sporadically whilst they were walking. Something was definitely bothering him, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

She smiled secretly to herself. For all of his genius he really was the most emotionally awkward person she had ever met. Besides Sai of course, but Sai was different. He had been brought up from day one to not only not _show_ his emotions, but to virtually not have any at all. Any emotions he had ever shown would most likely have been beaten out of him by ROOT until he was broken out of it like a nasty habit. Sasuke however had had strong feelings like any other normal child. He had had a mother who loved him and showed it with affection, a father who loved him in his own way and showed it by pushing Sasuke to be the best he could possibly be.

And he had had a brother. A brother who had loved him dearly. And showed it by murdering their entire clan so that his little brother could escape his fate. And then taunted him for a further 8 years causing Sasuke to go on a psychotic mission of vengeance, till in the end he was forced to kill the last remaining member of his family.

She frowned. No wonder he had difficulty with emotions.

Suddenly, a strange sensation drew her mind back out of her deep thoughts. Her eyes snapped up as she realised what it was and she flicked her eyes over to Sasuke who had now stopped in his tracks and was looking at her. He had felt it also.

Three foreign chakra signals heading their way.

They continued walking ahead, slowly now, but both were on full alert. Ears straining to hear the slightest noise, and hooded eyes discreetly looking from side to side for sign of the enemy. Sakura tried to focus on regulating her breathing and calming herself into a meditative state so that she could concentrate better on the fast approaching ninja. She quickly felt herself tuning in to the world around her.

She could pick up the three individual signs quite clearly now, and from what she could tell they were all low-level shinobi. But even though ordinarily they would be no match for the two elites, right now they could still cause a lot of trouble for them both, as without the use of their chakra, three chakra using shinobi verses two "civilians" was still difficult odds.

She held her breath awaiting the moment when their enemy would reveal themselves, and she could sense that Sasuke was on edge also. The ninja seemed to be hanging back a bit behind them though, observing them a while before making their first move.

Both elites were walking slowly but steadily, now seemingly looking straight ahead and unaware of the threat behind them, even though in reality they were ready and waiting. It was a tense few moments while they awaited the first move, the air felt thick with adrenaline to Sakura, and she felt like she could cut the anticipation with a knife.

Suddenly the distinct sound of a shuriken whizzed through the air and the aforementioned weapon flew through the space between the two and lodged into the ground about a metre in front of them with a loud thunk.

Both leaf ninja played their part admirably, as they feinted surprise and spun around with shocked expressions on their faces. Sakura chanced a glance at Sasuke and was secretly proud of his acting skills. He looked every bit the unprotected civilian as he came about with wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth on his usually blank face.

She returned her gaze forward in an instant to regard the enemy now in front of them, the same mock surprise on her own features.

In front of her were three of the roughest looking shinobi she had ever seen.

All three were filthy, their clothes were coated in a concoction of grime and sweat and what she presumed was blood, and she could almost smell the pungency which she was sure was radiating off them from where she was standing. Their faces likewise were unkempt, roughly trimmed beards covering the lower portion of all three faces, their hair was dirty and dishevelled and they looked like they hadn't come near a bath for at least a year.

She looked at each of them individually, and noticed that the two on her side looked very similar to one another, like they could almost be brothers. Both were average height, slim and wiry with light brown hair and grey eyes, and aside from their shocking unseemliness they didn't seem to be all that old. They looked close to her and Sasuke's age actually, maybe a year or two older.

However the one on Sasuke's side was definitely older. When she looked at him closely he looked to be around Kakashi's age, about mid to late thirties, although under all the grime it was hard to tell. He was significantly bigger than the other two, she could see strong mature muscles on his exposed arms and his hair and stubble had silver speckled throughout the dark brown. He had many scars on his battle hardened face. He was definitely the aggressor of the three as he stalked forward slowly but confidently like a leopard approaching its cornered prey.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the large shinobi ground out in a raspy voice as the three halted and he crossed his arms lazily across his chest.

"Looks like a little hen and her _cock,_" the younger shinobi standing closest to what she presumed by now was their leader sneered at her maliciously.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the analogy. She hated the comparison of being a weak female. It was part of the reason why she became a shinobi in the first place. She had worked very hard to become equal to the men she worked with, and she hated having to play the meek damsel in distress.

She was about to answer with her own snide remark when his 'brother' cut in before her. "Yeah, he even looks like one," He pointed at Sasuke's hair, "Look, he's got hair like a rooster's ass!"

The two younger shinobi laughed maniacally at each other's idiotic taunting. Their leader however remained silent, staring intently at Sasuke as if he was trying to size him up. Meanwhile, Sasuke kept the 'frightened rabbit' expression plastered on his face.

Inside though, he was fuming.

How _dare_ they make fun of his hair.

It took every ounce of strength and control in his body not to wipe the three of them out right now with his chidori. It was so difficult to keep his chakra in check, when his blood was boiling, and he could feel his instant subconscious reactions to a threat which he usually relied on, fighting to take control of him as he struggled to keep them contained. His face made him look as harmless as a kitten but inside he was waging a war against himself.

He was so consumed with his internal struggle that he didn't notice the older shinobi's gaze drift from him to Sakura. The greasy leader looked her over properly for the first time since they had stopped them, and after looking her up and down and then returning his gaze to her face he licked his cracked lips and his features twisted into a frighteningly lecherous smirk.

Sakura noticed the look he was giving her and cowered before his gaze, as she imagined she would, _if_ she didn't in all actuality have the strength of over a hundred of these buffoons.

The shinobi ogling her suddenly turned his attentions back to Sasuke.

"Well little man, as yer can probably guess, we aint exactly here fer friendlies, if you catch my drift,"

Sasuke desperately tried to keep his facial expressions in check. He could feel his eye wanting to twitch.

"We's been travellin' a long time now," the grungy leader ineloquently garbled, "And we aint exactly got the funds ta live in the lap a luxury neither."

"So we collects a little . . . tax . . . now and then."

One of the younger thugs was slowly inching his way towards Sakura.

"You and yer little missy over there," the shinobi continued, jerking his head in Sakura's direction, "look pretty clean and well-fed to have just walked out of the wilderness."

The 'brother' that had moved now stood right next to Sakura, and took the opportunity to lean his face in till his nose was about an inch away from the smooth skin of her throat. He inhaled deeply, drinking in her scent like a wild dog.

"They sure smells good too." He looked predatorily at her with a yellow toothed grin as he straightened back up and stepped away again.

Sakura somehow resisted the sudden urge to vomit all over him.

"Which means," the large shinobi continued, "you're a damn sight richer 'n we are. So I want everything you've got. NOW."

The big man took a step forward towards Sasuke, intent on getting whatever money they had.

Sasuke took a step backwards, tripped on a small stone, and landed straight on his ass.

Sakura turned and gawked at him, a perplexed look on her face. Since when was 'the great Uchiha' such a klutz?

The three goons erupted into a myriad of over-the-top laughter, pointing at him and holding their sides as they took delight in his 'clumsiness'.

Sasuke smirked unnoticeably, hidden behind his bangs. His plan had worked perfectly.

He had tripped on purpose of course. He had the money (the meagre amount though it was) that Tsunade had given them for their mission in his back pocket. As he had 'tripped' he had simultaneously pulled his one hidden kunai from the back of his trousers and the money out from his pocket, and as he landed on the ground had thrust both deep into the earth beneath him, using the kunai to cut a path though the firm soil. While he lay on the ground in mock embarrassment he silently patted over the surface of the earth behind him to ensure the mark couldn't be seen. That money was all they had and he refused to lose it to these low-level punks.

Sasuke jumped hurriedly back up to his feet, intent on making at least a stand against the men.

"We don't have any money!" he cried.

The older ninja looked back toward the two look-alikes and nodded his head sharply towards Sasuke. Without hesitation the younger men moved forward and one held Sasuke from behind by his arms while the other foraged through his pockets and patted him down, searching for money, or weapons, or both.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and frowned, but allowed them to search him knowing they would find nothing.

Finally, after much searching, both very perplexed they released Sasuke and moved back to their original position beside their leader, and turned to look up at him questioningly.

The man frowned. From the way these two looked he had expected to get a fair bit from them.

Sasuke straightened himself out after his violation and tried again to talk his way out of their predicament.

"I told you! We're almost at the end of our journey and we've got no money left! Please, just let us go. I don't have anything to give you!"

A spark of realisation flashed in the lead shinobi's eyes at that.

"Oh, come now," he drawled, "that's not true."

His eyes rolled towards Sakura and he smirked wickedly and licked his lips again as he eyed her up and down.

"How 'bout we let you pass," he ventured, looking at Sakura but clearly addressing Sasuke, "if . . . you give us yer little missy here."

He smirked evilly and moved forward towards Sakura. She cowered with a terrified look on her face, but at her sides her hands were balling into fists ready to defend herself at a seconds notice.

In less than an instant Sasuke was in front of Sakura.

She quietly gasped as she felt him move in front of her. She felt the heat at her front first, then he was there, right arm held up across her chest as if to shield her, his hand fisted, his head tipped forward, as he looked up at their enemy between the long strands of dark hair that framed his face, from beneath deceptively long lashes which curtained narrowed eyes hazed over with disgust.

His brows knitted together and his nostrils flared as he regarded them with pure hate.

"Touch her, and you _die_." He growled at them in a voice he barely recognised.

Sakura's eyebrows rose slightly, and she eyed him from behind in shock. It was good that he was protecting her like a husband should, but he was slipping out of the 'weak citizen' character just a bit too much. If he kept this up they wouldn't be able to hide the fact they were shinobi for long.

Meanwhile, Sasuke's head was spinning.

If she was shocked at how fast he had moved to protect her, he was ten times more surprised.

It was a good move on his part. It was the perfect role of protective husband, however, he was shocked at how easily, and subconsciously, he had slipped into the act.

Was it even an act anymore? He wasn't sure. The way he had reacted, it was like a natural instinct to protect her from harm. It was cave-man type male programming, a natural subconscious reaction to protect his woman.

His woman? Wait . . . what was that?

It was too late for him to ponder it further though.

In front of him the lead shinobi's smirk slowly drooped and his brows drew together until the expression on his face was as malicious as Sasuke's own.

"You stupid little prick," he spat. "How dare you threaten _us_. Yer gonna pay for that dearly, little man."

He pounced forward in a split second like a tiger at Sasuke, hand splayed and sharp ragged nails poised meaning to tear his throat out in one fluid move. But even without the use of his chakra Sasuke's speed was superior. He elegantly side-stepped his attack and pulled his throat away just as one jagged nail scraped across his neck. For now he would not attack. As long as he could continue to defend them both against the determined three's advances he would.

The filthy leader had been thrown off balance as he unexpectedly flew past Sasuke, not into him. As he struggled to regain his footing he spun around and glared at Sasuke with a look of anger mixed in with confusion. He dove at him once again, this time upping his speed and chakra control to it's maximum, as he now realised Sasuke was a tougher opponent than he had originally thought.

This time however, Sasuke was unable to avoid his attack, and the shinobi grasped hold of a handful of his jet black hair, gripping as tightly as he could with his enormous right hand, as his left balled into a fist ready to shatter Sasuke's cheekbone.

Mistake number one.

Sasuke realised that fighting could not be avoided now, and he thrust his left elbow up violently into the encroaching ninja's face, moving at what looked like the speed of light, and the grace that could only be executed by an elite. He let just the tiniest amount of chakra flow into his elbow, but with his excellent chakra control it was more than enough to make the shinobi let go of his death grip on Sasuke's hair and go flying through the air and land on his back several metres behind him grasping at his broken nose trying desperately to quell the blood that gushed out of it.

Sasuke turned slowly to face the fallen enemy with his eyes lowered to the ground, and when he raised them back up to look at the man now cowering like a frightened lamb, his eyes were burning fiercely with red and black as he finally revealed his Kekkei Genkai to the enemy.

The man on the ground looked up at Sasuke with a horrified expression on his face, as his subordinates rushed over to help their leader. He now realised they had bitten off more than they could chew.

"_SHINOBI!"_ he screamed up at Sasuke accusingly, dark eyes blazing up at him, and as they heard their senpai's cry both men rushing to his aid paused briefly and then lunged at Sasuke. Each reached to grab hold of an arm which Sasuke easily avoided. In fact, he easily avoided all of their attacks as they mercilessly continued to pursue him. But although he could avoid them easily enough, he was still completely occupied trying to defend himself without killing them both. He may have been considered cold and unfeeling and a heartless, traitorous, vile-betrayer by some, but he had always held human life in high regard. He had never killed for no reason. Even when he was training with Orochimaru he still refused to kill indiscriminately.

Sakura however was now beginning to see the fruitlessness of continuing to defend.

If Sasuke kept this up, even if she also revealed her ninja status and they continued to try to defend themselves without attacking, they were never going to get anywhere. They would just keep going round and round in circles, till they were all too exhausted to continue. And what then? They couldn't just let the enemy run off. They would alert others and then their entire mission would be compromised. No, there was no way out of it.

They were going to have to kill them.

Sasuke continued to try to hold off his two attackers, and he saw their leader, now fully composed again, raise himself slowly off the ground and begin to make his way to join the ensuing battle. He glanced quickly at Sakura to make sure she was safe. All three enemy ninja were now completely ignoring her as they were consumed with trying to subdue Sasuke, thinking that she was no threat to them whatsoever.

Mistake number two.

He saw Sakura slowly and, strangely, almost . . . seductively . . . make her way towards the approaching leader. She stood in his path, and he stopped, looking intently at her to see if she was going to try to fight him also. He calmed a little however as he saw that she was not going to cause trouble, in fact, it looked like she was finally ready to submit to him to cease the attacks on her 'husband'.

_Wise decision._

He thought to himself, as she slowly slipped her coat off of her shoulders and he had the chance to fully drink in her beauty, he was really going to enjoy this.

Mistake number three.

Sakura hesitantly looked up at him submissively, and as she gazed up at him with huge naïve-looking jade eyes and she softly bit her full bottom lip shyly between perfect teeth he felt like he was hypnotised by her innocence. When she slowly and dramatically trailed her fingers seductively down the front of her top and into her cleavage he felt his arousal begin to strain against the front of his pants.

That was the last thing he felt.

As Sakura reached down her top she deftly felt with her fingers for the senbon which she always kept tucked beneath her left breast for just such an occasion. Hey, when you were a beautiful but deadly ninja like she was you had to be prepared, right?

In a flash of an instant, with the speed and grace of a python she pulled the slender silver weapon from it's hiding place and slammed it into his temple with the full power of her chakra behind it, driving it deeply into his skull. Blood sprayed out of the wound and misted in the air and he fell backwards immediately.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

Without hesitation she spun around to face the three still too preoccupied with their own battle to notice the now dead shinobi behind her.

"Hey boys!"

All three stopped what they were doing and stared at her questioningly. She almost laughed out loud as they paused mid-action like a comical freeze-frame, Sasuke standing in the middle holding one by his collar raised up about half a foot off the ground as he clawed at his forearm trying to get him to release his grip, Sasuke's left arm stretched out behind him, his hand gripping the other firmly by his filthy hair as said shinobi now craned his neck around to look at Sakura.

She watched as the two attackers faces slowly contorted into that of fear as it dawned on them that their senpai was dead.

Both began pulling away from Sasuke in terror as they desperately tried to escape a similar fate and both began clawing at Sasuke's restraining hands like wild animals in the face of certain annihilation. Sasuke meanwhile just stared at Sakura and the unmoving shinobi with a senbon still protruding from his temple and blood gushing from his head and pooling on the ground behind her, with his mouth slightly agape and a stupefied look on his face, like he had no idea who this girl standing in front of him was.

Sakura stood with a smirk on her face and her hands on her hips and she nodded slightly to Sasuke in a gesture to release his hold on the two idiots.

He complied without hesitation, too stunned by her actions to protest otherwise.

_When the hell had she gotten so confident?_

The two ninja however wasted no time scrambling to their feet and tearing away from the two, terrified at what this sadistic hell-cat and her Kekkei Genkai using lover would do next.

Sasuke continued to regard Sakura with awe as she turned her attentions back to the rapidly retreating louts and taking a deep breath crouched to the ground and slammed her now glowing blue hand open-palmed onto the earth.

The entire area around them shook with the force of an earthquake and the ground opened up in a long jagged scar towards the two shinobi with a deafening cracking sound as they stumbled in the crumbling unstable ground beneath their feet, and the crevasse swallowed them whole like a giant mouth in the surface of the earth. They fell simultaneously into the immense depths, never to be seen again, screaming the whole way down.

When she was satisfied she could no longer hear their cries, Sakura turned casually around, walked a few steps and grasped the already dead shinobi behind her by his ankles. Hoisting his entire weight easily over her petite frame she turned and strode back to the crevasse she had created and tossed him uncaringly into the black depths to follow his comrades to the darkness below.

She turned back to Sasuke and brushed her hands together as if to cleanse them of the men's filth, sighed and looked at him as if she had just taken care of an annoying pest and not just killed three men without blinking an eye.

"Shall we go then?"

She turned and continued casually in the direction they had been headed originally without waiting for a response.

Sasuke quickly went back to where he had buried his kunai and their money and hurriedly dug them up and stuffed them back in his pocket again before racing to catch up to her, still too stunned by the events that had occurred to say much of anything.

--

The rest of the journey went uneventfully, much to the relief of them both.

They had made it to the quaint and peaceful village, paying little attention to the sights of the bustling town around them though, as they were both exhausted from their long journey, and were keen to get to the inn and get some much needed sleep.

They found the inn easily enough from the directions Kakashi had given Sasuke, and were grateful to see that it was a rather pleasant, if modest little abode. They had both stayed in a lot worse, that was for sure. The woman that greeted them was an overly friendly, round little elderly woman and she showed them to their small room, which Sakura was pleased to note had a bathroom off the bedroom, and warmly bade them a good night, before leaving them to themselves.

Sakura immediately proceeded to unpack her toiletries from her bag and then headed to the bathroom to wash up.

Sasuke laid out on the small bed. It was barely a double bed, more like a large single.

He sighed.

The whole way to the village from their unexpected battle he couldn't stop thinking about how different she was from what he remembered. The way she had fought their opponents was incredible, she moved with grace and agility and had killed without hesitation. It was such a change from the frightened, unsure little kunoichi he used to know.

He heard the shower spring to life behind the bathroom door and then the sounds of a plastic curtain being drawn forward and then back across the rails as she climbed in.

He tried to concentrate on something else as he heard her moan quietly with pleasure as the warm cleansing water soothed her aching muscles.

She began to sing softly to herself in a sweet melodical voice, and he closed his eyes and knitted his brows together deeply as he desperately tried to drown the sounds out of his head.

She was a walking contradiction and it was driving him insane. The way she could be a lethal hardened killing machine one minute and a coy and shy and desirable woman the next had his head spinning. He suddenly found himself listening to every noise she made and imagining the warm beads of water trickling slowly down her beautiful naked body, all the way over sensuous, smooth, tanned curves and down to her-

...

He had to get out of here.

He leapt off the bed and moved quickly to the door of the bathroom. He knocked on the door loud enough for her to hear over the cascading water.

"I'm going out to get us some food, ok?" He called.

"Ok!" she yelled out, then resumed her quiet singing.

He pulled on his coat and hurried out of the room. He needed to clear his head.

He made his way down the stairs and out the front door of the inn into what appeared to be the main street and saw several stalls set up along the sides of the wide dirt path selling everything from hot food to fruits and vegetables and simple clothing to junky trinkets.

He spent some time wandering from stall to stall looking over everything and enjoying the much needed distraction from the day's events. His long dark cloak had a generous hood which he had pulled over his head and thankfully no one had paid him any mind.

He suddenly realised he had been gone about an hour and he should probably get back with the food. He found a stall that looked fairly clean which was selling simple dishes of rice and vegetables and what looked like beef, and decided that was good enough. He purchased two portions and made his way back to the inn and up to their room.

He held the warm cartons under one arm as he struggled with the key in the lock. He finally got inside and locked the door behind him.

Sakura was laid out on the bed on top of the covers, sound asleep.

Feeling guilty that he had taken so long, Sasuke placed her dinner down on the small side table next to her and then moved to sit in the open window and began to eat his meal looking out over the town below. The full moon was high in the sky, and it cast a blue-tinged glow over the whole village.

When he had finished, he moved around to his side of the small bed, stripped down to his shorts and climbed beneath the covers. He leaned over and gently pulled the cover out from beneath her, and tenderly drew it back over her. She was facing away from him, and he rolled to face the opposite way, moving his body as far to his side of the bed as he could.

He reached up to switch off the light, and lay there, listening to the sound of her steady breathing as he closed his eyes and tried to let the tensions of the day drift away into the encroaching blackness.

* * *

**A/N:** Phew! -dramatically wipes brow- That was exhausting! I hope it came across ok, I was a bit iffy about this chapter, not sure if I am completely happy with it, but, oh well.

Next chapter is already written and I have been bursting at the seams to post it, it is my favourite chapter and I'm really happy with it, so if you are all good and give me lots of lovely reviews I _might_ post it very soon! And as a tempter to persuade you to all review lots so I will post it quickly, I will tell you that chapter four has some luscious **lime** in it!

So be good, REVIEW, and I will send some citrus your way soon!!

Hugs to you all, and stay tuned! XD


	4. Velvety Temptations

**A/N**: Kia ora!

I hope you all like sour green fruit because here it is . . . the promised LIME!!

I've decided I can't hold out any longer, and have posted this much earlier than intended, because you have all been so WONDERFUL with your beautiful reviews, thank you so much I love you all!! (hugs galore XD )

So, without further ado, here it be.

Oh and sadly, I still don't own Naruto. :( That impressive claim is held by Masashi Kishimoto XP.

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Velvety Temptations**

Sasuke lay awake, staring at the patterns of the moonlight on the ceiling of their room.

He couldn't sleep. So many thoughts were tumbling around in his head. Most of them about a certain pink-haired kunoichi.

He couldn't deny something strange was happening to him. He didn't understand what he was feeling and the events of their exhausting day had left him more confused than ever. The attraction he had felt for her, the desire, the _longing_ had felt so intense, and yet he had also been terrified of her incredible strength and callousness in battle. He didn't think he had felt so many strange emotions in just one day ever before in his entire life.

Why was he thinking about her like this? Before he left the village, he had never even remotely paid any attention to her as anything other than a team mate, and even then he had found her somewhat annoying to say the least. So why could he not stop thinking about her?

She had grown up, that was for sure. While he had been gone she had become a fully fledged woman, mature, confident, not to mention an elite-jounin and one of the strongest kunoichi in Konoha and medic apprentice to the Hokage.

She had also become intoxicatingly beautiful.

He had noticed her as soon as he had entered Konoha some six months past, when he had returned like the prodigal son from his extensive odyssey, and half of the village had gathered around to watch the infamous missing-nin Uchiha marched to the Hokage's office escorted by ANBU. He had scanned the crowds looking for familiar faces, and straight away he had been drawn to the flash of pink hair amid the throngs of people.

His breath had caught in his throat. She had changed so much. Gone was the insecure little girl, he could tell even in the brief glimpse he got of her that she stood proud and tall, more sure of herself. He also saw how she had lost her softness that she had had as a child, she was lean and strong, and he could see the definition of muscle beneath the surface of her smooth unblemished skin. She had grown her hair out again, and the colour had faded slightly with age and the intense Konoha sun, till it was now a pale pastel - though still recognisably - _pink_.

That had been the only glimpse he had gotten of her before he had been dragged into interrogation for two weeks, but that short sight of her had been enough to pique his interest.

Of course, on the outside, he had remained the ever stoic Uchiha. He found her attractive, yes, but that was only natural considering she was an attractive woman and he was a grown man who had been so immersed in his revenge he had had very little time for interaction with the fairer sex. It certainly didn't mean any more than that, did it?

He sighed, as if trying to clear his head physically of these unwanted thoughts about his team mate.

Sakura had been tossing and turning most of the night, as if battling some unwanted thoughts of her own.

Sasuke had tried not to face her way or look at her. He had a feeling that after the way he had been thinking, seeing her while she was sleeping would just make more problems for him. However, he had been laying on his right side for so long now it was starting to become uncomfortable, so he risked rolling over onto his left for some relief.

What he saw when he rolled over almost killed him.

Sakura was lying on her back angled slightly towards him. The arm furtherest away from him was thrown up on the pillow above her head, and her other arm was folded up slightly beneath her with her hand near her face, her head almost resting on her hand. She looked absolutely stunning with the moonlight bathed across her, making her pale skin glow like an angel in the blue green light, and her full moist lips were parted just slightly. Her long eyelashes grazed her cheeks and he could see her eyes moving beneath her lids, deep in her own dream world. But that was not what shocked him.

She had tossed around so much in her sleep that the thin strapped singlet she had gone to bed in had ridden down in the night and slipped down her shoulder. She had forgone wearing bindings or anything of the sort to bed for comfort, and also because it was so humid now that they were closer to Lightning.

And now, one of her beautiful breasts was exposed for his viewing pleasure.

Sasuke groaned inwardly. This was _not_ good. How was he supposed to get to sleep now with her laying exposed next to him?

He tried with all his might to tear his eyes away . . . unsuccessfully. But he found he just couldn't stop staring at the perfect pale mound, or the adorable little pink peak which was pointed his way so teasingly. It was a breathtaking sight. The skin on her breast was as pale and untainted as the rest of her, and in his eyes it was the perfect shape and size, not too big, but still full and round. Despite the heat a cool breeze had been coming through the open window, and her nipple was hard and firm looking. He knew he should stop looking at her and try to go back to sleep but he just couldn't look away.

He found himself almost hypnotised by the perfect little pink bud. He could feel his mouth begin to salivate and he imagined what it would be like to wrap his lips around it. He felt a stirring in his loins as he suddenly became fixated with the thought of it in his mouth. He knew he should stop thinking about it; he should just roll over and go to sleep, or get up and go for a walk, anything to take his mind off the thought of rolling his tongue around that undoubtedly velvety pink skin.

But he couldn't do it.

Quite the opposite in fact.

He began to move very slowly closer and closer to her. He couldn't help it, it was like a black hole, drawing him in, and he was helpless to stop its force as he was drawn towards inevitable destruction. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, both in anticipation, and in fear that she would wake up and catch him. As he got closer he could feel the heat radiating off her, and he could smell her natural scent, mixed with another fruity smell. It smelled like . . . a_pples?_

Soon he was close enough that he could easily stick his tongue out and taste her if he wanted to, and he barely had time to briefly wonder what the hell he was doing and why he had let himself get this far, before the strong pull grasped him once again, and without thinking he leaned forward another inch and very softly grazed his lips over the bud.

Her head twitched slightly and her brows knitted together for a brief second, before she exhaled and resumed her previous peaceful visage.

He waited with bated breath till he was certain she wasn't awake and, still watching her face poked his tongue out and gently licked the tip of her nipple.

She didn't move.

He cautiously moved his tongue forward again, and this time circled slowly around the outer edge of the little peak, which proceeded to become firmer with every stroke.

She let out a very feminine little sigh, and her head tilted up again, but still she didn't wake.

Not able to control himself any longer, Sasuke closed his lips around the little pink button and began to gently suck on it, drawing it between his lips and then teasing it with his tongue on the inside of his mouth, all the while still looking up at her face to gauge her reaction.

She still didn't wake . . . however, she did begin to react.

Her brows knitted together once again, and she let out a soft moan when he drew her into his mouth. Her breathing quickened and Sasuke could feel that she had begun pressing her legs together slightly.

He smirked against her breast, and then closed his eyes himself and began to suck harder, more confident now that maybe he could get away with her thinking it was a dream. Her breathing became more rapid and her lips parted wider and she moaned louder than before. She was fidgeting now, and as his teeth grazed her she arched into his mouth, her body unconsciously craving more.

He was now sucking as hard as he dared, and it was worth it. He was in pure heaven. It was just us wonderful as he thought it would be, her skin was velvety smooth, and the little bud was so _hot_, it was radiating heat into his mouth and it grew hotter the more he agitated it. She was panting now, and making all kinds of glorious little whimpers, and he felt his arousal twitch in his shorts. He couldn't hold back any longer and bit down on the little peak.

She bucked and arched her back right off the bed towards his mouth, as she cried out.

"aA**HH**--"

. . .

Sasuke felt her suddenly go rigid beneath him, and all her breathing and noises ceased abruptly. It was eerily silent in the room, and all he could hear was the hammering of his heart in his ears as he slowly opened his eyes and hesitantly looked up at her with his lips still wrapped around her nipple.

She was lying absolutely rigid, staring down at him with huge jade eyes. A look of pure fright was on her face, like a scared little rabbit. Her mouth was slightly agape and she clearly had absolutely no idea of how to react to what she had just awoken to, as if she was in a state of shock. He was mildly thankful for that, because he knew how much damage she could do if she wanted to.

They lay like that for what seemed to Sasuke to be an eternity, his lips still clamped around her supple peak, and her staring down at him with a frightened and confused look on her face.

Finally composing himself, Sasuke slowly pulled his lips off her breast, and leaned back. Still holding eye contact with her, he lay back down on his side of the bed, and then leisurely reached forward and pulled her singlet back up to cover her exposed mound, dragging his hand deliberately and unhurriedly back over her now cloth-covered nipple as he withdrew his hand.

She was still frozen helplessly to the spot.

They stared at each other for a long while, her eyes still huge and confused, and slightly fearful, before Sasuke slowly closed his eyes, sighed, and rolled over to face the opposite wall.

* * *

**A/N: **So, I know it's short, but I thought you would all forgive me since I posted so soon and it has lime!

I hope you liked it, I would really like to hear your thoughts on it since it's the first lime I've ever written. Hehe, and it was fun :D

Next chappie coming soon to a monitor near you, lol XD


	5. The Game Begins

Sakura couldn't sleep

Hi again all you wonderful people. I must begin by apologising profusely for how long this has taken to get to you, and I'm sorry to report that it is just a sort of transition chapter really. I've got my mojo back though and I'm frantically writing the rest so I should have another chapter out to you very shortly (as in this week XD ) but I thought I have made you all wait long enough so I thought I would post this bit for you in the meantime.

Again, thank you all so much for all your beautiful reviews! Each and every one is music to my ears, and I can't believe how much positive response I've had! XD You are all too kind.

And again, I don't own Naruto. Naruto characters all belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

But the storyline is mine. XP

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Game Begins**

Sakura couldn't sleep.

She lay awake for what seemed like hours, her heart pounding in her chest, as she went over and over what she had woken up to.

For the first hour or so she couldn't even think about what had happened, she was almost in a state of shock.

_Why would Sasuke do that?_ It was so out of character for him. He had been gone for so long, and had been so cold and almost incapable of feeling before he left, that she had difficulty thinking of him as a _man_. Of course she knew he _was_ a man, but she had trouble thinking of him as a man in the sexual sense. He'd put up such a brick wall to the world, he had packed ice around his heart for so long, and never shown his feelings to anyone if he could help it, and certainly never shown her that he had any sexual desires at all. The only emotion he had shown anyone was hate and wrath. It was so hard for her to think of someone like that as a living, breathing, _feeling_, sexual being.

Yes, it was true that she had had a naïve fixation with him when she was younger. She had professed on numerous occasions that she had "loved" Sasuke, and had even declared it to him herself the day that he left the village to seek out Orochimaru.

But truthfully, it had been almost like a game to her. It was very similar to the tactics that she used with herself to become a better and stronger shinobi. Just as Lee had his bets against himself that were almost impossible to achieve and thus pushed him harder and harder to achieve them, she too had a similar strategy. She would become so focused on something that she would get to the point of obsession, where she _had_ to have it no matter what. Even if it took every ounce of her dignity she would chase it. She had to win.

The funny thing was, was that half the time she didn't _really_ desire the thing that she became obsessed with . . . the point was that she _had_ to win, just to prove to herself that she _could_.

And so it had been with her "love" for Sasuke. If she looked deep inside her heart she knew that she hadn't really loved him. Hell she hadn't even really liked him . . . honestly, why would she? He had pretty much been a complete and utter prick to her the entire time! It had begun as a silly competition with her best friend at the academy, and had grown from that into her obsession to be the best, to get the guy, to be the one to _win._ And that ridiculous obsession had gotten her nowhere with the elusive young Uchiha, and caused an all out war between her and the one person who had been kind to her at the academy.

Of course, her obsessive personality hadn't always been detrimental to her. That same obsessive streak had taken over when she and Naruto had failed to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, and when the object of her fixation was no longer there, she had moved on to her next hobby, becoming a great medic. She had thrown every fibre of her being into her apprenticeship under Lady Tsunade, and was now one of the strongest kunoichi in the world.

She had always believed that if Sasuke was to return to the village she would fall back into her fixation with him and try to win his love again as she had when she was young, but she surprised even herself when he had finally walked back through those Konoha gates, and she found that, although she was overjoyed that her team mate had returned, she did not feel that same desire she had once felt.

She could not deny that he had become ten times more handsome since he had left the village. He was now tall and lean, and his body was hardened through battle. His hair was longer and tied at the back, and he bore a striking resemblance to his older brother, sans the deep lines beneath the eyes.

But aside from a physical attraction, she felt nothing more than platonic affection for him. She knew nothing about him now, and he knew nothing about her. Six long years he had been gone, and they were like strangers to one another. It was the same with him and Naruto. But with Naruto being, well, Naruto, he had welcomed Sasuke back into the fold as if he never been away.

That however was something Sakura could not do. She had made it clear to him from the get go, without the need for words, that he would need to regain her trust first, before she could allow him back into her life.

And right now he was going about it all the wrong way.

What the hell was he thinking? After her little performance today there should be no doubt in his mind that she could knock him into the next century if she really wanted to, so why would he put his life in danger by provoking her?

But, an even more disturbing question, she realised, as her still sleep and shock hazed brain finally began thinking more clearly, was why _didn't_ she? Why _didn't_ she beat him to a pulp like she would have if any other man had violated her like that? And even worse than that, what _was_ that strange sensation that she had felt beneath the all shock and fright . . . that unusual burning feeling in her abdomen that she had felt when she looked at him with his mouth on her? She could not deny that when she had been woken so suddenly she had felt all warm and tingly all over, and now, when she pressed her thighs together she could feel the moisture that had began to form there.

Foolishly she flushed in the darkness, embarrassed and confused by her body's natural reaction to this man.

She contemplated saying something to him about his behaviour, but then what would she say? Accuse him? She wasn't really in the mood for a late-night fight. Question him? No, she was too embarrassed at the situation herself and she knew she wouldn't be able to broach the topic without blushing like a tomato at every word that crossed her lips.

She turned her head slightly to look at his silhouette outlined in the moon's glow. He was still facing away from her, and he was lying completely still, he appeared to be asleep, but then she realised he could have just been faking it.

She sighed and rolled back to face the opposite wall. Despite her racing mind she was beginning to get very tired now, and they had a long day ahead of them.

She closed her heavy eyelids, and tried to quiet the jumble of thoughts in her head. Perhaps it was best to just pretend that nothing had ever happened.

But it was hard to ignore her swollen nipple.

* * *

When she awoke in the morning he was gone from beside her.

She lifted her weary torso off the mattress and sat up, rubbing her eyes as she intermittingly looked around the small room.

She frowned as she noticed that all of his belongings had gone also, as had his pack from the corner of the room. She snapped her head around to urgently look at the small bedside clock, as she suddenly became aware of the strong sunlight pouring through the window and falling across the white sheets still draped over her legs.

_8:55_

"**SHIT**!"

She shot off the bed like a rocket and began frantically pulling her clothes on, not even having time for a shower this morning. They should have left by at least 7am.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" She screeched as she hurriedly tried to simultaneously pull her boots on and run a brush through her hair, then moved to the bathroom and literally swept all of her toiletries into her pack in a jumble.

She was so angry at herself for oversleeping, although she had a good idea why. It had taken her several hours to get to sleep after that little incident last night. She groaned and cringed as it all suddenly came flooding back to her, and her stomach turned as she wondered how things would be between the two of them today. If she could even find him that is.

She tore down the stairs almost bowling the kind little hostess over as she frantically raced past her and shouted a "Thankyou!" over her shoulder. She had no time to fret about impropriety as her mind was occupied on finding her 'husband'.

Where the hell was he anyway? Had he left her because of what happened last night?

No, he would never do that. He needed to complete this mission more than she did. She remembered what Tsunade had said to him in her office. If he failed this it was essentially the end of his career.

She flew out the front door of the inn still deep in thought, then stepped off the front porch and frantically scanned the street outside as she looked left and right repeatedly in search of her missing partner.

"Ahem."

She spun around abruptly at the familiar grunt.

There, leaning casually against the building to the right of the doorway she had just barged through, stood her enigmatic team-mate, eyes turned away from her and arm stretched out towards her holding a steaming paper cup of what looked optimistically like hot coffee.

"Oh. There you are." She tried not to let the anxiety she had felt when she thought he was gone show, but she had a suspicion that her behaviour on exiting the inn had given her away somewhat.

"Hn." He grunted again in his usual manner as she tried to compose herself by walking as casually as she could to take the paper cup from his outstretched hand.

His calloused fingertips brushed hers slightly as she took the cup from his grasp, and her heart fluttered in her chest. She briefly wondered if he had done it on purpose. His face however remained as impassive as ever and she brushed the fleeting thought from her mind. He probably didn't even notice it had happened, and she scolded herself for thinking so stupidly.

Sasuke was only all too aware of what he had done. He was testing her. He himself had lain awake for long after their little affair last night, feigning sleep as he heard her shifting restlessly, battling with her inner thoughts and emotions.

For a while, he had been sure that she was going to either say something to him or finally come to her senses and clobber him one, but it wasn't long before he realised she would do neither. When it finally dawned on him that he had gotten away with it, he felt exhilarated, like a naughty child who had gotten away with mischief, and he began to think that perhaps his crossing the line wasn't such a bad idea after all.

In fact, the more he had thought about it, the more he discovered that maybe this was the answer to his anxieties about this mission.

He had ascertained last night that he rather enjoyed playing around with his team-mate. It had given him a bizarre thrill which he could not put his finger on, and now that he had had a taste of her he wanted more.

And last night he had realised while pondering the situation that he had all the opportunity in the world to manipulate her as much as he desired. Oh yes, he would play the part of husband to her. He would play the part so well that even she would be shocked at his skill and determination.

And while he did so, he would be testing her. He would push her and play with her and see just how far she would allow him to go. He had a game of cat and mouse to play and she would be his toy.

He chanced a look at her and saw that she was trying not to look at him, a slight flush to her cheeks, and he suddenly realised he had just grunted at her as usual when he had the perfect opportunity to start his game. His stoic one-syllable responses had become second nature to him and he didn't even realise he was doing it half the time. He nonchalantly tossed his now empty paper coffee cup into the bin on the other side of the door.

He decided to make a stab at friendly conversation.

"Did you sleep well?"

He saw her flush a deeper shade of red, and he was finding it very difficult to hide his victorious smirk. He decided he quite liked that shade on her.

"It's so late! Why didn't you wake me?" She attempted to ignore his flustering question as she also disposed of her empty vessel.

"You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, you seemed like you needed it."

She frowned. He was trying to goad her into reacting. Well, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"That was very irresponsible, Sasuke. Now we're going to be late into Lightning and I won't have enough time to get ready before the ball."

He gazed out over the hustle and bustle of the morning market as he casually reached into his pocket and removed a folded map.

"Actually, I've been looking over our route . . . while you were sleeping," he couldn't help but throw in, "And I've discovered an alternate route to the Daimyo's palace that should cut at least 3 hours off our travel time. We'll have plenty of time to spare." He traced over the new route he had plotted with one elegant finger as she looked over his shoulder from her spot leaning against the wall next to him. To her dismay it looked like he had indeed mapped a better course than she originally had.

"Hmph." It was her turn to grunt indecipherably now. "That's no excuse, you still should have woken me earlier. I'm not some rookie that can't push on without enough sleep you know."

He sighed, then suddenly pushed himself off the wall, and in an Uchiha flash he turned and moved in front of her till his chest was pressed flush against hers and his face was inches away from hers. He planted one hand on each side of her head and just stood there, staring deeply into her jade eyes for a full minute.

Sakura's heart was beating wilding in her chest under the scrutiny of his intense gaze. Her stomach was dancing around as if someone had let loose a flock of wild pigeons in there. She didn't understand why, but she suddenly felt very nervous.

Slowly Sasuke leaned closer to her face, and as he gained proximity she couldn't help it as her eyes flicked to his soft pink lips and she subconsciously bit her own lip in anticipation.

Sasuke's eyes lit up with mirth as he saw her eyes move to his lips. He almost smirked as he realised she was holding her breath.

He moved closer and closer till their lips were millimetres apart, and if possible her heart began beating even faster as she realised he was going to kiss her. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she closed her eyes, and waited for the expected feeling of his smooth lips on hers.

But the feeling never came.

Sasuke watched as she closed her eyes, and this time he openly smirked as he came to the realisation that even after all this time, and through all of her portrayed indifference to him now, she was still putty in his hands.

She opened her eyes again perplexed and saw that his face had now moved to the left of hers, and her eyebrows knitted in confusion, before her eyes flew wide open and she had to stifle a gasp as she felt his warm lips gently kiss her jaw line.

Sakura tried as hard as she could to order her body to relax and look natural as he left a trail of delicate little closed mouth kisses all the way down her jaw to her neck, and without even forcing herself she craned her neck to the side to give him better access. As he reached the join of her neck and shoulder he pressed his face into the sensitive little hollow there, and nuzzled her while placing his open mouth over her pulse, then used his hot tongue to slowly taste her, and she could not help the needy moan which escaped her throat.

Slowly Sasuke leaned back and smirked possibly the sexiest smirk she had ever seen in her entire life.

He let his eyes wander down the length of her face then past her jaw and down to her barely concealed bosom then leisurely back all the way up to her eyes again, drinking in the sight of her and smirking the whole time. When he looked into her now viridian lust-clouded orbs again his own dark eyes danced with a delight she had never seen him express before. It was an intriguing sight.

"Yes, dear."

His velvety smooth voice threatened to turn her into a quivering mess.

He smirked that intoxicatingly arrogant-yet-delicious smirk again and pulled himself away from her to turn and lift his pack from the base of the wall next to them. He slung it over his right shoulder and moved forward to begin the next leg of their journey. He paused after a few steps however when she didn't make a move, and looked back over his shoulder at her, extending his left hand towards her as he did.

"Coming, baby?" He raised an eyebrow at her teasingly in question.

Speechless with shock, Sakura just nodded numbly, reached down to grasp her own pack from the ground, slipped her hand into his and let him lead her out of the quaint village and on to their next destination.

* * *

Ok, so I know it's probably a bit of an anti-climax after the last chapters lime, but I want to take their relationship slow, if there's one thing I can't stand it's rushing into the lemon. Cos once it's over, it's over. Finito. Goodbye. And then everything's just downhill from there. So be patient, mkay my pretties?

I can tell you that next chapter is gonna have some really good stuff, so stay tuned and I shall deliver citrusy goodness to you all in good time. Mwahahaha.


	6. Yellow Enigmas

**A/N: Awww, don't worry kids, the big bad story is gone now!**

**Well I am pleased that I got such a broad range of responses from people after my little trick I pulled. XD To those of you who told me that you liked it and that you never would have tried to read a JiraSaku if I hadn't pulled that trick but now you are, thank you!! You are the reason that I did that, to try to get people out of their comfort zone and trying something new. I hope you are enjoying Forbidden Fruit.**

**To those who said that they liked the writing but the pairing put them off, thank you for your honesty and for giving it a go with an open mind. I really appreciate your feedback. Interestingly though I had a look at those of you who had your age on your profile and noticed that most people who said that were under 20. I can tell you that when I was younger I felt the same way that you do about older guys, but when you get to my age you begin to realise that an experienced **_**man**_** beats a good looking boy who has no clue, any day. And for an old guy, Jiraiya is pretty damn hot really. I'd tap that. Lol ;P**

**To the people who left rude anonymous reviews such as, "Yuck", and "Don't do that again." and other messages which I won't get into, all I have to say is fuck you. This is my story and I'll do whatever I want, so if you can't handle it go read something else. Words can't hurt you . . . idiots. And if you are going to leave a rude review at least have the balls to log in so that I can reply to you personally and let you know just what the hell I think of it.**

**Ahem. Sorry about that for those of you who left logical, useful, intelligible reviews. I love **_**you**_** all and keep em coming! XD **

**And without further ado, chapter 6.**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Yellow Enigmas**

Sakura was deep in thought as they walked along the dusty road that lead towards the country of Lightning.

Sasuke's behaviour earlier had really shocked her. In fact, it had shocked her so much, that she had been rendered dumb, and had had no choice but to follow him numbly as she tried to gather her wits.

But now, as they made their way through the last of the neutral territories, and closer to the border of Lightning, and as of yet conversation between them had been minimal (as always), she had plenty of time to think things through.

She couldn't scold herself for allowing him to touch her and speak to her the way he did. Their mission called for them to act as man and wife, and any other reaction on her part would have been unacceptable, as it would have given them away to anyone who happened to be observing.

However, she had a sneaky suspicion that Sasuke, knowing this to be the case, had taken advantage of the situation and was trying – for some unknown reason – to test her limits, and to see just how much he could get away with.

That was the best that she could deduce from the situation, for truthfully, she was absolutely baffled at his actions over the past day and night. There was no need for him to be so intimate with her outside the inn that morning. They could have easily kept a professional distance whilst still maintaining the guise of marital bliss. But he had pushed the boundaries on purpose, of that she was certain.

And last night in their room, what the hell was _that_? In the privacy of their lodgings it was indubitably unnecessary for _any_ kind of intimate contact between them. Yet when she had been rudely awakened by his ministrations she had seen it written all over his face that he had been caught red-handed in a twisted and purely self-satisfying act that he had honestly believed he would get away with.

Something had certainly changed. This was not the Sasuke she remembered, yet she had to keep reminding herself that the Sasuke she had know had been a pre-pubescent boy of merely twelve or thirteen. This man beside her now was a completely different person. Perhaps it was his time spent with his new 'sensei' Orochimaru in Sound, but she could sense a new, twisted streak in him, a desire to take pleasure in other's discomfort. And she felt that he was now embarking on a sick new game with her as his target.

Well, if that's what he was up to, then things were probably going to get a lot more intimate between them. Because, as tolerant as Sakura had been up till now, she was not some drippy fangirl that he could manipulate with his charms anymore. She was an elite Jounin, a hundred times more comfortable with her own skill and her position in the shinobi hierarchy than she used to be as a Genin, and if he wanted to play, then she would play right back.

She just hoped he could take as good as he gave.

She raised her head and shoulders higher and began to walk with a renewed confidence in her step now that she had decided on a course of action. Her hand momentarily squeezed Sasuke's own as she willed herself to be strong enough in her convictions.

Next to her, Sasuke sensed the change in not only her body language, but in the strength of her chakra signature as well. They were of course both still masking their chakra, but as they had trained together on the same team and grown up together as children, they each still had no trouble picking up one another's distinctive mark.

And right now hers was telling him that something had changed. He briefly wondered what it was.

There was no time to ponder on it though, as they were currently approaching a large cliff-face that had a giant crevasse splitting it down the middle with a narrow gap for them to pass through the mountain of rock into the valley beyond. They both had to be on high alert now, as the constricted passage in front of them surrounded by raised ledges of stone and opening at the far end into the unknown, would be the perfect place for an ambush.

As they drew closer and Sakura studied the impressive sight before them, she thought ironically that the giant jagged line cutting vertically through the grey expanse of shimmering stone reminded her of a lightning bolt, a few forks slashing here and there off of the main branch and into the ancient natural wall adjacent.

Finally the massive gash towered over them as they stood at the base of the cliff and proceeded to move forward into the mouth of the mountain it blanketed. It was narrower than Sakura had first thought, and they quickly discovered that they would have to move through in single file, so, still clasping Sakura's hand protectively, Sasuke moved ahead of her and stepped into the tapered enclosure.

Inside the temperature dropped significantly, impressing on the fact that the cold sheets of rock on either side of them had never been touched by sunlight, and as Sakura listened in the silence that engulfed them - as the enclosure acted as a sound-barrier to the outside world - the only sounds she could hear was their own breathing and footfalls, and the occasional echoing 'plop' of water dripping from somewhere high above them.

The warmth of Sasuke's hand comforted her in this dark place, and she was acutely thankful for the contact right now. It seemed silly to her, but no matter how strong she had become over the years, she still had an unnerving feeling being trapped in such a dark and almost claustrophobic space as this.

Somehow, it was almost as if Sasuke was picking up on her unease, as she suddenly felt him rub his thumb back and forward soothingly over hers with their hands still entwined.

Her brow knitted as he continued the placating gesture, and she found herself at a loss as to how to react. Her first instinct was to allow him to continue, as his ministrations really were calming, but then her previous determination returned to her and she realised that to stay in control of this game she had to put a stop to this patronising behaviour.

She tugged her thumb out from beneath his, then firmly clamped it down again, pinning his own thumb against his hand and ceasing any further unwanted movement.

Her eyes narrowed irritably as she heard him snigger quietly from his position in front of her. She rolled her eyes pointlessly into the blackness and 'tsk'ed her annoyance loudly.

The strange natural tunnel was much longer than she had expected it to be, and they had passed under a good 300 metres of the massive rock structure above them before the thin crack of light that she could see ahead of Sasuke began to broaden and glow around his silhouette like a flood light. After being encased in the thick blackness of the crevasse for so long, the light ahead was almost blinding.

Finally Sasuke stepped out into the unnaturally strong brilliance and moved to the side so that she could follow him out, and take in the new view ahead of them.

It took Sakura a moment for her eyes to adjust to the intense glare, and she blinked hard several times to focus properly on the new vision before her, but when she did the sight ahead was a completely unexpected one.

A loud gasp involuntarily escaped her, and her jaw dropped as her eyes flew wide open.

Sakura had never seen such a beautiful sight.

There before them lay a never-ending field of the most abundant collection of golden yellow flowers she had ever seen.

The plentiful fields spread out for what looked like miles ahead. The light that had almost blinded her before had been the intense glare of the sun reflecting off the incandescent scenery below, and combining to produce the vivid brilliance which had welcomed them. As she scanned her eyes over the luminous, lemon-washed horizon, she could see that the wild, resplendent flowerbeds were also teeming with tiny life; hundreds of multi-coloured butterflies and numerous bees and bugs could be seen buzzing and busying around the vast expanse of wild flora, the only visible occupants of this surreal setting.

Sakura felt like she had stepped into another dimension, and she basked in the intoxicating feeling that this untouched paradise brought her. This was nature at its wildest, raw and pure, untouched by and unrequiring of man. It was absolute proof that nature, left to its own device, was far superior. It made her feel small and insignificant in comparison.

She looked back at Sasuke with a huge and silly grin plastered on her face, her inhibitions for once forgotten.

Sasuke couldn't stop himself in time, as the corners of his mouth involuntarily twitched into a smile when faced with her pure and unadulterated joy, before he quickly composed himself again.

Sakura couldn't even be bothered dwelling on his little faux pas however, as she suddenly dropped her pack and took off, sprinting into the vast field, running her hands over the tops of the flowers as she ran. She stopped a short way into its depths, and took a moment to look all around her. The blanket of flowers was waist high, and she felt like she was swimming in a beautiful yellow sea.

Sasuke crouched down quietly and pretended to pull his flask out of his pack and quench his thirst. However his eyes never left her form as she frolicked in the delightful vision, that in his eyes, was only nearly as beautiful as she.

He watched, fascinated as she took off again, this time tugging her hair band from her crown and letting her long silky locks flow freely behind her in the wind as she skipped like a nymph through the wild flowers.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He watched her in utter awe, marvelling at her pure childlike wonder as she revelled in the pleasure of the moment, unending smile still in place, and cheeks flushing with exhilaration. She grasped handfuls of the sun coloured flowers, and tossed them into the air above her head, giggling and dancing in circles on the spot as the petals rained down on her like a golden halo. Yet again he was perplexed and astonished by the fact that this killer kunoichi could also be as naïve as a babe in the woods.

He also felt slightly put-out, however, as it dawned on him that his plan had backfired.

Of course he had known about this place all along. He had come across it once, years ago, on a mission to the rougher areas on the southern border of Lightning that he had been given by Orochimaru. He had barely noticed its beauty back then, so consumed had he been with his task at hand. But when he had studied the map that morning, and seen that it would be possible for them to pass right through it on their way to the border, he had deduced that leading her to such a sight would surely make her fall right into his trap. Women loved that sort of shit. Or so he'd heard.

What he hadn't counted on however, was just how damn adorable she could be.

He groaned to himself at the irony of the situation.

"Sasuke!"

His eyes locked with hers as he saw her begin to run back in his direction.

She was covered from head to toe in a rosy glow, which only seemed to serve to make her look even more enticing. He cleared his throat and prepared to lift his pack from the grass he stood on at the edge of the flowerbed.

However, she surprised him by doing something completely unexpected.

She didn't slow as she reached him and instead flung herself at him, throwing her strong yet dainty arms around his neck and bringing them both crashing backwards onto the soft grass, with her giggling the entire time. As they came to a stop with her upper body draped across his broad chest, she looked down at him with eyes full of warmth and appreciation.

"You knew this was here all along, didn't you?" Her breath was short and her face held a hint of mirth. "That's why you wanted to come this way."

He looked away from her as his cheeks flushed slightly and he cleared his throat again.

"I . . . uh . . . well, I wasn't sure if it would still be here . . . but," He began, unsure of how to respond to her frank question. He finished instead in a very _un_Sasuke way by smirking shyly (which she hadn't even known was possible until she saw it with her own eyes) and shrugging defeatedly.

Kami, he couldn't _think_ with her pressed against him and looking at him the way she was. This whole incident was _not_ going the way he had intended.

Sakura herself was a bit surprised at her own actions. But she was drunk on the beauty that surrounded them, and it was causing her to do crazy things. And in this setting right now, she didn't really care what happened. Nothing could bring her down.

High on the moment, she leaned forward and pressed her lips softly to the corner of his mouth, not quite able to bring herself to aim for his lips just yet. His gaze snapped back to look up at her with now wide eyes as she pulled her face away again.

"Thank you so much, Sasuke."

There was a moments silence as they just lay there staring at each other, Sasuke's brain going a million miles an hour as he tried to think logically enough to put together a reply.

Finally he gained enough composure to respond. "You-" he began, and flushed again as his voice cracked. He swallowed and tried again. "You're welcome."

They remained staring at each other for what felt to Sakura like forever, as the seconds ticked by, and the intense sun shone down warmly on them from high above.

"**CAW!**"

Suddenly a hawk flying low overhead let out an almighty cry which was almost deafening after the silence of their quiet reverie. They both blinked hard, and it was as if that one noise had wrenched them out of a powerful trance and snapped them back into reality.

Sakura blushed furiously as she realised just how intimate their position was, and quickly hauled herself back to her feet. She brushed herself down and proceeded to re-affix her hair tie, looking everywhere _but_ at her companion as she did so.

Sasuke meanwhile just lay on the grass like a stunned mullet.

Silently he watched as she fixed her hair and garments, then reached down to where she had flung her pack, tossing it back over her shoulder. She looked back, her body turned away from him and, shielding his eyes from the still intense glare of the sun in front of her he could see her now furiously burning cheeks.

"Let's go."

With that she took off, heading East again towards their destination.

She did not bother to wait for him.

* * *

The countryside was beginning to change dramatically now as they drew closer and closer to the Capital city of Lightning Country, Sorakara no hi. As they moved further west into the enigmatic country that they both knew so little about, the previously gentle hillsides began to rise out of the earth, gaining height and texture the farther they went. Soon the yellows and greens and browns of the plentiful foliage that had once surrounded them became sparser, and the hue of the landscape began to turn to a pallid grey, as the hillocks turned into cliffs, and then proceeded to grow into mountains.

Sakura had plenty to look at to distract her as they travelled the final stretch of their journey. The mammoth crags, cliffs and peaks that looked down over them from high above enclosed them as they followed the natural path laid in the deep valley between them, carved into the terrain hundreds of years before by water, or ice, she presumed. The mountain air in this region tasted as sweet as honey to her. It was crisp and fresh and almost sparked with the energy that gave this country its name.

Or perhaps that 'sparking' was the tension between the two of them.

Things had certainly gone back to the way they were between them. They spent their journey in the same old comfortable silence that Sakura was quickly getting used to and even beginning to appreciate. Anything was better than this strange disquiet that had begun to build around them. So far whenever they did speak something potentially cringe-worthy always seemed to happen anyway. Butterflies had begun to flap furiously in her stomach whenever she even _thought_ he was going to speak to her, so she was infinitely happy to spend the rest of their travels in silence.

Sasuke had taken his time catching up to her after she took off. She was secretly glad for that though, as she had certainly needed a few minutes to gather her wits together again.

It had been a mistake throwing herself at him as she had, but nonetheless she couldn't really seem to figure out why.

Was she worried about what he thought about her behaviour? She pondered quietly to herself for a moment. No, that wasn't it, she honestly couldn't care less what he thought about her. Was she worried that he might have taken her reaction the wrong way, and want more from her? She didn't think so, his own reaction had changed so abruptly from cocky, egotistical male to shy, bashful boy, that she was quite frankly, a little taken aback.

Or was it the other way around?

Was she afraid of her _own_ intentions?

Was she afraid that she might go too far with their, so far, playful banter, and that _she_ would want more?

She hastily stopped her train of thought as she realised she might be a little to close to the truth for comfort.

Luckily, right at that moment she focused again on the scenery before her, and as they rounded the side of a large stony cliff face, there before them was revealed a pair of ostentatiously grand gates, set into a giant natural arc of rock that marked the entrance to Sorakara no hi.

Sakura tried hard to conceal her sigh of relief, and she could have sworn that next to her, she heard Sasuke doing the same.

* * *

**A/N Sorry! I know I said there would be citrus, and there really was, but this turned into a long-ass chapter and I had to break it in two. So, next time, mkay?**

**Hope you liked it anyway, and let me know what you think of it so far! XD**

**Next one this weekend definitely. ;P**

**_Oh, and please help me decide what type of story to write next by visting my profile and taking my poll! Thank you! XP_**


	7. In Hot Water

**A/N: Hello everyone!!**

**Well, how good am I? Here I am, in London on holiday, and I couldn't help myself! I have a bit of spare time while my sis is working and I am just loving writing this story so much that I had to keep writing!**

**So here it is, I give you Chapter 7.**

**So, don't say I'm not good to you!**

**Thanks so much for all the reviews, you guys are the best! XD**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – In Hot Water**

After making it through the gates at the border effortlessly - thanks to the decadent Palace Ball invitations that Tsunade had given them that had come with the mission scroll - they had decided to find lodgings as close to the gates as they were able, so that the next day they could return to Konoha for debriefing as hastily as possible. On an espionage mission such as this, time was of the essence, and the less time they spent exposed to the inhabitants of Sorakara, the better their chances of anonymity were.

They had quickly found a suitable inn, a quaint but sufficient accommodation about a quarter of a mile from the city entrance. It was old fashioned and very simple, and was located amidst several small one acre properties, each running various stalls of home grown or produced goods along the road edge that they bordered. The people in this area reminded Sakura of the people of Konoha, humble and unpretentious, yet friendly and amicable too. She felt right at home here.

It was the perfect place for them to stay, as they were disguised as simple working-class folk themselves, and the inn was appropriate to their position in the city's social hierarchy. Here they could blend in painlessly, and they would easily become as unnoticeable as wraiths in a sea of fog, on a cloudy night.

They had collected their key from the front desk, which had been manned by a quiet but friendly gentleman with wispy silver hair and delicate silver-framed spectacles perched precariously on his nose. Their room, they had found, was very similar to last evening's accommodation, with a small private bathroom, a double bed and very few other furnishings, but Sakura was pleased to find it was both clean _and_ seemed to be artificially cooled to accommodate for the suffocating humidity that seemed to come hand in hand with the Lightning Country.

After having unpacked only the belongings that were necessary for the evening's mission – of which, Sasuke had needed hardly anything, and Sakura had practically had to unpack her entire bag – and then sharing a lunch of white rice and vegetables which they had purchased from one of the stalls on their way to the inn, Sakura decided that now was the time to go over their mission plan for the evening.

She pulled a pencil and a small spiral notepad from a side pocket of her pack, and fervently began jotting notes as she spoke.

"Right, I memorized the basic layout of the Daimyo Nakashima's Palace from the blueprints that Tsunade gave me with the mission details," She began a crude sketch as she recalled the picture in her mind. "And I think that if we can get a seat around about _here_," She circled a spot towards the centre of a rudimentary drawing of the ballroom, "Then we should be able to get the best view of the security surrounding Nakashima. Now, it's also pertinent that we speak to as many people as we can that may be able to give us better insight into the daily routines of the Daimyo, and it's highly likely that-"

"Why don't we leave that till later, hmm?" Sasuke interrupted smoothly as he took a seat on the bed next to her, pushing his hand down over the pad and pencil clasped in her own hands, and forcing her to stop her work.

Sakura pulled away from his blocking manoeuvre, and shifted around until her back was almost facing him, returning to her sketch. She frowned back at him briefly over the curve of her shoulder.

"We need to go over this before tonight! We _are_ on a mission, you know," she spat haughtily. "Now, as I was saying . . . it's highly likely that the people seated in the immediate vicinity of Nakashima himself will be those in his greatest favour. Therefore, these will be the people with the most trustworthy knowledge on the Daimyo, and _these_ are the people we need to be talking to. So, we will both try to strike up conversation with as many-"

Suddenly, and without warning, Sasuke snatched the palpitating pencil from her grasp, then held it up between them and snapped it clean in two.

"I _said_ . . . it can wait till later."

He looked at her with a dead serious expression on his face for a moment, while she gaped back at him wide-eyed, and a little lost for words at his over-the-top reaction.

Very slowly, he leaned forward until his face was uncomfortably close to her, head cocked to the side and wrapped around the side of her jaw. Images of that morning's intimacy flashed back to her, and she desperately tried not to flinch or show him her discomfort at his proximity.

Just as she was thinking he was going to repeat his previous affections, she suddenly heard him sniff deeply, unashamedly inhaling her scent.

Her face twitched with confusion and she almost passed out from her sudden anxiety.

He leaned back just as slowly and then smirked deviously at her.

"Actually . . . I think the most urgent thing for _you_ right now is to have a bath."

Her eyebrows knitted together dangerously.

He continued recklessly. ". . . Since you said you didn't have time to shower this morning . . . and we _are_ going to a ball you know."

Her face flushed violently with rage, as he mimicked her previous tone, and her mouth dropped agape incredulously.

"_Not_ a good look when you're trying to schmooze with dignitaries." He obliviously dug himself deeper.

"Come on," He stood, walking towards the door and continued pleasantly, seemingly unaware of the internal nuclear war which was occurring inside the deceptively delicate looking kunoichi behind him. "I saw a bath house not too far from here. Let's go."

With that, he walked out, leaving Sakura in the room behind him, huffing with anger and embarrassment, before she reluctantly rose from the bed and stormed out of the room after him, slamming the door in her wake.

* * *

They walked silently to the Bath house - which was located next to a natural hot spring, as Sasuke had said, pretty much just around the corner from their inn - with Sakura still fuming wordlessly. Although, the closer they got the more she quickly calmed down, as the thought of slipping in to a soothing natural spring bath really was quite an enticing idea.

They made their way up the quaint path that bisected the welcoming front garden complete with white-picket fence and archetypal matching white veranda. As Sasuke pushed the front door open, a set of bells hung on the ceiling above the door gave a melodic jingle, and a smiling young face looked up at them from the front desk to the right as they moved forward into the large foyer.

"Welcome to Bathhouse Kashin!" The hostess smiled broadly at them both as they approached her desk, and Sakura couldn't help but notice that her gaze lingered a little longer on Sasuke than was professionally necessary.

"Hello." Sasuke bowed his head politely, oblivious to her attentions. "Two for the mixed bath, please."

Her face gave away her disappointment briefly before she turned her bright smile on once again. "Certainly! The ch-"

"-Uh, actually, could we have one for the Women's and one for the Men's please?" Sakura interrupted abruptly.

"But, Honey," Sasuke reached out next to him and grasped her hand affectionately while flashing her a dashing smile. "That's ridicu-"

"-Now, now," She pulled her hand away and looked at him admonishingly. "I actually want to get some _bathing_ done," She sidled over closer to him and bumped her hip teasingly against his side, then lowered her voice and smiled at him secretively as she continued, "And you know how _naughty_ you can get."

Her act came off perfectly as Sasuke was forced to play along with her – which he did surprisingly well – and he smacked her playfully on her behind and smirked at her knowingly as she let out a squeak and then giggled like the quintessential new bride.

The girl behind the counter blushed coyly at being party to their provocative banter. "In that case, the women's changing rooms are to the left, through that door," She indicated opposite her, "And the men's over there. Enjoy your baths!"

They both bowed courteously, then moved towards their respective areas to undress for bathing.

As they reached their doors simultaneously, they both looked back over their shoulder at the other. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her devious thwarting of his plan and scowled at her.

Sakura on the other hand just smiled and winked back at him seductively from beneath her lashes. "See you soon, honey." She cooed.

She could have sworn her sharp shinobi hearing heard him growl quietly as he closed the door behind him, and she couldn't help but giggle as she swiftly closed her own.

She turned around and took in the room she had just entered.

The room was compact, perfectly acceptable for a changing facility, allowing a maximum of about 10 women to change at any given time. Right now though, it was empty, and judging from the fully stocked row of white yukata hanging from a line of pegs against the left wall, Sakura was guessing that she was the only one here.

Well, that was fine with her. It would allow her to fully relax without any disturbances. She quickly stripped off her day dress – which she had been forced to reuse again today as Tsunade had only given her the one – stuffing it into one of the woven baskets placed there for personal belongings. She then pulled a yukata from a hook above her, purring at the luxurious feel of the quality material against her skin as she slipped her arms into it and then loosely tied the belt at her front.

There was a sliding door at the front of the small room which, as she could see through the glass, led directly out into the main women's bath. She pushed the door to the left and stepped out into the large area outside.

Empty. Perfect.

The humid air rising in the steam off of the inviting pool before her hit her at once as she exited the changing room, making her skin instantly damp as she progressed to the edge of the water, dipping her toe in to test its temperature.

Just right.

She untied the belt at her front and then slipped her yukata off of her shoulders and left it folded neatly at the pool's edge.

Slowly, she stepped into the bath from the wide steps at the left, relishing the feeling of the water's natural heat soothing her aching muscles. When she reached the last step she found that the water came up only to her hips, so she moved to the far edge of the pool and sat down on the underwater ledge that ran all the way around the bath to use as a seat. Now she was covered by the heavenly water all the way to her shoulders.

She sighed with pleasure. She certainly couldn't deny that this had been an excellent idea of Sasuke's. And it was even more relaxing in knowing that for the duration of her bath she could finally – even if for the briefest amount of time – escape the source of her recent torment.

She closed her eyes, and enjoyed her short-lived peace.

* * *

Sasuke sat in his own hot pool, also alone, with a look on his face that could only be described as pouting.

His devious plan to make his blushing companion squirm even more had backfired, and now he sat, on his own, pouting in a public bath.

He _hated_ public baths.

He should have known that the little pink-haired vixen would not have allowed herself to be trapped, naked and alone with him for any measure of time, and he now felt like a right royal idiot for even thinking that his amateur little plan would work.

He sighed heavily.

Oh well. He might as well enjoy the peace and quiet while he could.

He took the opportunity to look at his surroundings. He currently was seated at the far end of the hot pool, facing back toward the changing room he had come out of. Over to his left the entire length of the pool was bordered by a brown wooden fence, behind which was a bush of various trees and foliage, draping over the top to the pool side and creating a natural curtain of privacy.

He could see a path leading off through a narrow gap in the greenery. To the left of it was a signpost reading, 'To Men's Sauna'.

He snorted. He could never understand just what _was_ the appeal of sitting around in a tiny wooden box sweating like a pig with a bunch of other half-naked men. Disgusting.

He looked over to the right side of the pool.

There was a tall brown wooden slat fence, identical to the one on his left, running the full length of the rectangular enclosure which surrounded the steaming bath in which he sat. This fence did not have foliage on the other side of it however, and as he squinted through the clouds of steam rising off the water around him, he began to notice a similar mist ascending into the air over the other side of the fence.

His eyes drifted back towards the building he had exited and, putting two and two together, he deduced that the steam over the fence must be coming from the women's spa.

Hn.

He hadn't realised that the women's bath would be quite so close.

He found his thoughts drifting involuntarily back to his spunky companion, naked and vulnerable, and now, it seemed, just a few short feet away. His mind had wandered back to her yet again, as it had repeatedly over the last 48 hours, and for some bizarre reason, it irked him to no end.

He thought back over the day's events. It seemed that so much had already happened in such a small span of time and, typically, Sakura's behaviour had been radically different in each and every occasion. He recalled that morning, outside the inn, how she had blushed so easily and crumbled at his slightest affections. Then the field of flowers, where she had laughed and frolicked like a child, then thrown herself into his arms and willingly kissed him, if only a small peck. In the room here in Sorakara, she had returned to kunoichi-mode, focusing intently on the mission at hand, then fumed at him and his attempts at procrastination. And now here, in the foyer of this spa, she turned seductress, and foiled his own attempts at manipulation over her like a seasoned pro.

She was a bizarre creature, that was for sure. A complete and utter paradox unto herself. And for the life of him he couldn't figure her out. He had a feeling he would go crazy trying.

He slowly snapped out of his intense thoughts as he realised he was scowling testily at the relatively – in contrast to his own special visual abilities - _thin_ fence which was all that separated them now. He leaned lazily forward to rub his aching calf muscles, while still staring intently at the fence.

He stopped mid-movement abruptly.

He had seen something flash blue on the wood in the direct line of his vision.

He moved his head forward and back repeatedly while scrutinising the same patch of wood trying to discover what it had been - if anything - and when it happened again, it took him a few moments to realise what he was seeing.

There was a gap in the fence.

His heart skipped a beat.

Granted, it was a very small gap, and it was impossible to see anything from this distance, but . . . if he were to get out, and stand right in front of it . . .

Hmm.

Sasuke found himself now fraught with indecision, as the polar opposites of his conscience fought over his next move.

On the one hand, he was a _professional_ shinobi on a mission with a _professional_ kunoichi. And not just any kunoichi, but a friend, a team-mate, someone he had grown up with and now cared for. If he respected her one iota he would allow her to keep her modesty and leave her in peace to finish her bath.

Also, he argued with himself, he should have no problems resisting the temptation, simply because of the fact that he _was_ a professional shinobi. He had had to resist this sort of temptation before - several times in fact - he had withstood the wiles and cunning of seductress assassins as beautiful, and many times more promiscuous than Sakura, without once becoming weakened by their charms. Compared to those professionals, this should be a cinch.

Should be.

But then why did he find himself suddenly providing reasons to the contrary? His will deceived him, as he found himself arguing that, on the other hand, one little peek wouldn't harm anyone. And, what she doesn't know won't really hurt her. And . . . _What if I never get another opportunity like this again?_

He growled soundlessly to himself as he struggled with his thoughts, and he tore his eyes away from the gap in the fence so that he could think more clearly.

He found himself staring once again at the changing room sliding door he had exited from, and he noticed that between the brown wooden step that sufficed as a tiny veranda, and the lip of the frame on the slider leading back inside the room, there was rather noticeable space where the step failed to join the edge of the building.

His eyes snapped up to something else he hadn't noticed before.

There, riveted to the building to the left of the ranch slider, painted in red calligraphy against the white background was a little sign.

_Mind the gap._

Sasuke almost laughed out loud.

Perfect.

It was a sign. A sign from Kami. He knew what he had to do now.

His ebony eyes snapped back eagerly to the gap in the brown painted wood which now stood out so obviously to him that he wondered how he could not have noticed it much earlier.

He glided carefully through the water so that Sakura could not hear the movement, and when he got to the edge, he pulled himself silently out on to the concrete surround.

He lifted his yukata from the poolside, slipping his arms through, but not bothering to close the front. It was only a precaution anyway. He raised his eyes again, and looked back up at the gap created by two slats that had been nailed to the cross beams just slightly further apart than the others, from between his dripping jet black bangs which fell in front of his pale face. The mismatched gap stared back at him, taunting him.

He proceeded forward with conviction now, his eyes never leaving that space. As he closed in, he could see the once blurred images between the parallel slats begin to come into focus now, as he moved slowly forward and the image twisted in his line of sight -- first a small bonsai in a terracotta pot, then the matching brown fence on the other side, also with shrubbery draped over its edge, some hand-painted tiles leaning at its foot, some more brown fence, a flash of pink-

Pink.

He stopped abruptly, keeping his current angle and now almost flush to the surface of the fence. As his eye drew closer to the gap the pink appeared to get closer and longer, until his face was finally pressed to the narrow crack and Sakura came into full focus before him.

She looked absolutely lovely.

Only a very small portion of her was exposed to his eyes, and he had seen all of it before, but nevertheless the parts that he could see looked incredibly radiant. She was seated at the back end of the pool, as he had been, perched on the underwater ledge, water almost but not quite covering her shoulders. Her head was drooped back, her long, elegant neck exposed, her eyes closed, and a peaceful, content expression graced her beautiful face.

He just stood there, spellbound, captivated in that moment by her innocent perfection, her only movement the slight rise and fall of her shoulders as she breathed in deeply, lost in her own meditation.

He did not regret his shameless spying now. This was one of those rare moments, where pure beauty would be wasted if not witnessed by one who truly appreciated it.

And he was certainly appreciative.

* * *

Sakura sat perfectly still in the calming waters and concentrated only on her breathing.

She had been sat like this for roughly ten minutes now, as she took advantage of the peaceful setting and warm water to simultaneously soothe her aching muscles and also to try out a new meditation technique her shishou had been teaching her back in Konoha.

The meditation would help refocus her mind and relax her body, and had the added advantage of discreetly charging her dwindling chakra without exposing her to anyone who may be in the vicinity.

Ironically, it actually required the use of a significant amount of chakra to sustain _masking_ one's chakra, and with twenty four hour per day masking for the most part of three whole days, she was in desperate need of this charge up.

The plus side was it worked relatively quickly, and after ten solid minutes of this, she was about ready to just relax and enjoy the rest of her bath.

As she slowly drew herself out of her meditative state, she became aware that her left arm had fallen asleep. She sharply lifted her arm out of the water, raising it above her head and stretching high to get the blood flowing once again. She was barely aware that the movement had caused her left breast to raise out of the water also, alerted only by the cool wind causing her nipple to react to the sharp contrast of it's previous warm home.

Instantly she was hit by another sharp sensation, though this one was not so much physical as it was internal. It was like a wave of pins and needles rushing through her whole body from head to toe, activating all of her nerve endings at once and sending a long shiver down her spine. It made her heart jump like it had been electrocuted, her stomach did flip flops and her breath caught. It was impossible to explain it without feeling it yourself, like heat and cold at the same time, like pain and pleasure all rolled into one, like both love, and hate all at once.

The strange sensation throbbed through her whole body intensely for only a brief second before it disappeared again, but that second was long enough for her to know what it was.

A powerful chakra surge.

And she knew exactly _whose_ it was as well.

Sasuke.

As shocked as she was, her mind reacted quickly. She made no change to either her face or actions to indicate that she had even felt a thing as she slowly lowered her arm back into the water beside her.

Inside however, her mind was reeling.

What could have caused such a strong flare in his emotions, enough that it caused his mask to shatter, if only for a moment?

Was he in danger? Had something happened over in the men's spa?

No, he would have alerted her by now, surely, or, judging by the proximity of the men's area she would have heard any disturbance herself.

What else then? Was it a coincidence that it had happened just as she had lifted herself from the water, exposing herself to anyone who may happen to have been watching?

Watching.

She tensed ever so slightly as she felt that she may have hit the nail on the head.

She struggled to calm herself, to not jump to conclusions, and let her anger get the better of her. She tried to ease carefully back into a semi-meditative state, so that she could focus on her surroundings this time.

Slowly her breathing calmed again, and she gradually became more and more aware of the things around her.

She could hear several birds twittering in a high pitch in the bushes next to her, and, as she fell more deeply into her trance-like state she noticed the sound of another, much more deep warbling bird call, a sound so low pitched and quiet had she not been meditating she would never have heard it. Now she heard two frogs, no, make that three, croaking huskily to each other outside the perimeter of the bathhouse, over the rear of the fence which she had her back to now.

As she listened even more intently, she heard noises that should have been impossible for her to hear from where she sat. She heard the air conditioning unit on the roof of the building, sucking in the humid air through it's vents to pump back in to the entire complex as cool, refreshing air. She heard the tiny pipe in the corner of the floor in the right hand side on the farthest wall of the pool, gurgling and sputtering deep underwater as it spewed fresh mineral water into the pool, keeping the water recycled. She heard someone breathing-

Wait. She heard someone breathing?

She focused again, and sure enough, there it was. Someone was breathing, and slightly heavier and faster than would be considered normal. It wasn't too far away either, and she concentrated harder to pinpoint the location.

The fence.

The fence between the two bath areas. That's where it was coming from.

Sasuke.

She tried hard not to knit her eyebrows together, and to again control her anger as it suddenly fell into place that, yes, he was watching her, and yes, her baring of flesh had been what had caused his powerful reaction before.

She fought valiantly against her natural reaction of fury. If she wanted to play him at his own game then she would have to play smart.

She thought frantically over the best way to proceed.

Her thoughts were suddenly drawn back to that morning in front of the inn at the previous village. She remembered the way the Sasuke had made her feel, standing right in front of her, making her feel like she was the only woman in the world. The way that just a few strategic movements, and looks, and expressions, had had her quivering at her knees and behaving pathetically, like putty in his hand.

She wanted that now. She wanted him to be like that for her.

And here was the perfect opportunity.

She would make him want her, as she had wanted him then. He would be begging to have her by the time this was all over.

She would win this round, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Sasuke stood, not daring to move a muscle where he watched at the gap in the fence, entranced by the sight of the lovely pink-haired vision in the water on the other side.

He had been absolutely certain that she would catch him, when he had been unable to control the surge of chakra that had sprung forth from him when she had inadvertently exposed one lovely creamy breast to his spying eyes. He hadn't been able to quieten soon enough the myriad of emotion he'd felt in that instant. A mixture of joy, satisfaction, desire and . . . guilt.

He felt guilty, because in that instant, when she was exposed to him, he suddenly realised who he reminded himself of right now. An image of Naruto squawking that very name popped into his head.

The Pervy Sage Jiraiya.

He cringed at the painful epiphany.

It was simple. He had become a pervert. A peeping tom.

He was a sick bastard.

But he couldn't help himself.

Even after his involuntary chakra spasm had almost given him away, he still couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He was glued to the spot, unable to budge from his position. So he just stayed dead still, and prayed to Kami that she hadn't noticed him.

But she hadn't moved a muscle either. She gave no indication whatsoever that anything was amiss. She still sat in the exact same position, seeming to meditate on the world around her.

Good.

He finally allowed himself to relax, realising that this was Sakura . . . if she _had_ noticed him watching he would probably already be out cold by now.

Suddenly, he noticed her move again, and his focus was on her one hundred percent.

He watched avidly, as she turned her body away from him and reached behind her with her right hand towards a small wooden stand, where various similarly wooden bowls were stacked in a row, alongside several glass vials, containing some sort of liquid with small dark circles of . . . _something_, floating in the fluid.

He frowned in confusion.

He took a brief second to glance quickly back over his shoulder at his own pool. His eyes scanned the corresponding area, yet he could see nothing similar on the men's side of the fence. He decided it must be something only for the women.

He looked quickly back to the scene through the fence.

Sakura had one of the small wooden bowls in her hand, and Sasuke could see now that it was actually empty. Or was, anyway. As he watched curiously, she proceeded to dunk the bowl under the flat plane of the water then drew it back through the surface, holding it upright in an attempt to keep the now full vessel from spilling. She then gracefully pushed herself away from the wall, and, still crouching below the water's surface, she tilted her head back as far as it would go, then raised the bowl above her head and began to pour the temperate water onto her hair, careful to avoid her face and drench only from her hairline back.

Sasuke watched the action greedily, fascinated as her previously pastel toned hair turned a rich shade of fuchsia when combined with the natural liquid. The water, still pouring from the bowl above, cascaded down her silky mane like a beautiful vibrant waterfall, rolling in waves as it followed the curve of her head, then the back of her neck, over her shoulders and finally back to its home in the waters below.

Her eyes were closed in pleasure at the feel of the warm liquid against her scalp. Her face was made more beautiful by a slight smile on her face, as she raised her right arm and smoothed her hair back with her hand, following the movement all the way to the nape of her neck.

Sasuke watched, still entranced, as she moved to place the bowl back on the edge of the pool.

This time, she reached for one of the small glass vials with the strange pieces floating inside, and as he watched she pulled the stopper out and poured a measure of the strange almost clear liquid into her now cupped hand.

His brow knitted as he tried to imagine what on earth the strange potion was.

He didn't have to wait long to find out.

Sakura pushed away from the wall once again, still carefully holding her cupped hand above the surface of the water, and came to a stop, this time with her back facing towards him.

Suddenly, in one graceful fluid motion that any water goddess would have been proud of Sakura rose abruptly from the water.

Sasuke had to stifle a gasp.

The creamy, unblemished planes of her perfect silky skin was entirely exposed to him now. The surface of the water which had been previously hiding her loveliness from him, now came to a stop just below the curve of her full feminine hips, allowing most of her lower back to be seen as well.

His heart skipped a beat as he caught the sight of the top of the cleft between the undoubtedly, equally creamy, smooth, matching mounds that he knew remained hidden beneath the water's surface. His eyes roamed back up to take in the rest of her visible body, the perfect velveteen skin that wrapped protectively around her narrow waist, the unmarred planes of her slim yet strong back, incredibly scar-free even after all these years as a shinobi. He hungrily followed the silky skin up, over her rounded shoulders, their delicacy deceiving the viewer to the immense strength which they contained.

He tried to scold himself, to tell himself that now would be a good time to look away, to have some respect for her privacy . . . but he just couldn't do it. It was as if a spell had been cast over him, and all he saw now was her.

And so, he continued to watch as she now lifted her still cupped hand out to the left, rising just above her shoulder, then raised her other hand to meet it, pressing them together and rubbing the liquid – which he had all but forgotten – between her two palms.

Very slowly, she raised both hands, crossed over her chest now, to the opposing shoulders, and with sinful leisure dragged her hands down over her arms, coating them heavily with the mysterious liquid. She then began to concentrate on one side at a time, her face turned slightly to the left now, her profile visible to him as she put her attentions to her body.

That made two of them.

Sasuke's attention remained fixed on her also, as she closed her eyes and stroked her right hand over and over her left arm, caressing herself in what would have been an innocent enough self-massage, had no one been observing her. After she was satisfied with the work on her arm, she raised her elbow from her body, moving her stance as she did, and she was now turned at an angle to him, her profile much more prominent.

Sasuke held his breath as her elbow continued to rise, and the delicious curve of one breast came fully into his view now. Her small pink nipple pointed proudly, and very teasingly into the air, hardened by the cool breeze after the warmth of the pool.

He realised abruptly that he was becoming extremely turned on by the show before him, as he felt the same breeze against the front of his body, and that was all it took to alert him that he now had a raging hard on, protruding through the front of his open yukata like a carrot in the face of a snowman.

He would have laughed at the analogy had he not been having so much trouble thinking straight.

He dragged one hand exasperatedly through his ebony hair.

This was bad. Here he was, peeping on his team-mate like a dirty voyeur, and now he had a painful erection to boot. His mind was spinning as he tried to gain control over his thoughts, but no matter how hard he tried, his mind and his vision kept drifting back to the brazen beauty on the other side of the fence. It was impossible to think clearly while his hormones raged, and all physical feeling was currently located around his groin.

Of course he couldn't think straight. With a hard on like the one he had right now there was no blood left to work his brain.

Not able, or perhaps not caring – he wasn't sure which now – to stop himself, he resignedly turned his attention back fully on the captivating vision which had caused his irritating male reaction in the first place, his team-mate, and her lovely, inviting breast.

As he watched, it suddenly vanished from his vision, covered again by her arm, and he realised now that she had begun her ministrations with the strange liquid again.

This time however, she worked with both hands, starting at her hips just above the water, and moving her hands as one, agonisingly slowly and seductively running her lotion covered hands over her silky skin, dragging them up over her hip, then the indent of her waist, over her ribs . . . and then they separated, one following up the left side of her breast towards her shoulder, the other following the skin across her taut stomach.

She continued the motions, again and again, one movement flowing effortlessly into the next, like a strange dance performed by an equally strange, but intoxicatingly beautiful water sprite. Still, she ignored her breast, and he found that this irritated him to no end. It irritated him because the suspense was almost killing him, he longed to reach out and touch that perfect mound himself, the least she could do was allow him to watch her do it with her own hands. It was driving him crazy.

But still nothing else in the world mattered as he watched the performance before him, the movements as lithe and graceful as the most stunning ballet you would ever see. The composition as perfect as the most enchanting and yet complex piano forte.

The perfumed fluid – he could smell it now - delicately caressed her soft curves, allowed to touch where he could not. He frowned at her busy hands, irrationally blaming the tonic for the jealously which he was suddenly overcome with now.

He wanted her so badly it hurt. It honestly did. His prominent erection throbbed painfully, in desperate need of the relief which it craved. He felt like he would pass out it he had to endure this much longer.

But still, he continued to watch, unable to keep from torturing himself with his own desires. Her hands moved again, getting closer now to her exposed breast, closer still, her fingertips brushed the edge of the mound rising up over its curving soft skin, ever creeping closer to the peach of her hardened peak-

He almost cried out as something touched the taut, burning skin of his aching arousal.

His eyes snapped down abruptly, and to his utter shock he saw that it was his own hand.

He had become so caught up in watching the erotic display, that his own hand had automatically grasped his erection, his body instinctively trying to give him the relief which he craved so badly.

His heart beat wildly in his chest now, as the seriousness of this new situation dawned on him.

His left hand raised to his face, his fingers rubbed the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes and tried to think clearly.

This was definitely crossing the line.

Watching was one thing. He could easily brush that off his conscience as a tiny faux pas, a little curiosity gone too far. He wasn't really seeing much flesh after all, and certainly no private parts that he hadn't seen – or tasted – before.

He could even forgive himself for his arousal. Ok, so it was not desirable in this situation, but he was a healthy young man in his prime, watching a beautiful woman touch herself. It was only his body's natural reaction. He would have to have been a saint to react otherwise.

But this . . . this he was painfully aware was going way to far. He was stepping into forbidden territory if he were continue down his current path. Touching himself while spying on his innocent team-mate bathing was heading into the regions of the truly sick and perverted.

He sighed internally.

But . . . on the other hand – or _in_ his hand – he had a problem that desperately needed to be taken care of. This large dilemma which he was currently holding was not just going to go away on its own.

He groaned soundlessly at the quandary which he found himself in yet again.

At that moment, he heard a sound from the other side of the fence which _really_ did not help his self control.

A low moan escaped Sakura's lips.

His eyes snapped back to the gap in the fence, and – all previous thoughts now forgotten – he silently admonished himself for becoming distracted enough to miss the sudden progress of his own private show.

Sakura's hand was just gliding over her pert bosom as he focused again on her image through the fence. He cursed himself under his breath, but still eyed her movements hungrily as he saw her fingers flutter as they each passed over the hard pebble at the apex of her breast.

He tried desperately to envision his own hand doing that to her - while she was awake this time – with the same look plastered on her face as she did right now. He was captivated by the look of pure need and desire on her face as she touched herself, caught up in the moment of her own self-satisfaction - when he felt his own fingers flutter as hers had.

The fingers which were wrapped around his straining erection.

He couldn't help himself now, as that one movement allowed all of his self control to wash away, and with a pained expression on his face, he slowly gave in, and began to gently stroke his calloused fingers down the length of his aching arousal.

He fixed his eyes back on her, as she continued to caress her lithe body turned now to the right and enacting the same ministrations on her other side. He focused on her, and her alone as he - tentatively at first - caressed his own body, one particular part anyway, and his face began to relax as he began to imagine that her hands on her own body were his, and his hands, stroking his stiffened member, were actually hers.

The thought of her hands on him made him twitch painfully beneath his fingers, and he began to work more confidently to ease his aching need. His strokes became longer, running his full length now, and gradually he picked up pace, the bliss on his face was apparent as he began to feel the increasing relief that the sensation of his rough fingers against the velvety burning skin of his manhood was finally giving him.

His eyes never left her once, and he saw with absolute clarity as her hands began to move slowly, one down each side of her body, travelling from either side of her breasts, down over the tapering of her waist, grazing over her silky hips . . . and then he watched infatuated as they suddenly changed course . . . and plunged forward out of his sight, veiled by her body and into the water – judging by the direction directly into the junction between her concealed thighs.

Sasuke lost it.

His pace increased dramatically and he gritted his teeth against the building pressure in his groin, as he now feverishly stroked himself, trying desperately to bring himself closer to release, closer to that moment of pure pleasure which would – he was hoping – wash away the guilt which he still felt in the depths of his stomach over this pitiful act.

He could feel it coming now. He held his now frantic pace as the pressure was multiplied tenfold by what he _couldn't_ see happening through the little gap in the fence. Her hidden hands were even more intoxicating than the glorious performance of earlier, and the suspense of the unknown threatened to make him lose his mind – and possibly something else. He nearly did lose it, when he noticed the ever so slight vibrations of the visible parts of her arms, and her elbows twitching almost imperceptibly, her shoulders quivering at her own touch.

He was so close. He felt it coming on like a freight train. He was going to explode any second now, and he didn't dare slow his pace for fear that it would delay his inevitable release. Any moment now. Just a little bit more . . . just a little bit mor-

"Hahahaha!"

Sasuke's hand abruptly dropped and he pulled the sides of his yukata roughly together at the sound of the deep male laughter. His face flushed as red as a tomato and his heart leaped wildly in his chest at the realisation that he had been caught in an unthinkable act of voyeurism.

Shaking, he tried to feign nonchalance, and turned his back to the fence, still internally having a mild heart attack, but keeping his face impassive as he looked up to face his accuser.

Two men were coming out through the sliding door of the changing rooms, both dressed in white yukata, both old, and both very rotund.

But neither paid any heed to Sasuke.

His fear turned to incredulity as he realised that had not been caught, the two men were so caught up in their own conversation he doubted they even knew that he was there. He watched as they both bypassed the hot pool entirely, and continued on down the path that led to the sauna.

Figured. They looked like the sauna type.

Sasuke's heart finally started again, as he realised that he had stopped breathing the moment he had heard them. He took stock of his physical situation now, and he realised, with an odd mixture of relief and disappointment all at once, that his erection had entirely disappeared. The sudden fright had taken care of that far more quickly than he could have.

It reminded him of why this had happened in the first place. He moved swiftly back to the gap in the fence, hoping to catch another glimpse of the taboo show he had been previously party to. Or perhaps pick up where he left off.

He huffed with indescribable disappointment.

Sakura was gone.

He looked frantically around the pool area but could see no trace of her. Her white yukata had gone from the poolside.

He shook his head with frustration trying to clear some of the intense disappointment he felt.

It was for the best anyway.

In fact, as he thought about it more, he was glad that the men had interrupted him when they did.

At least it hadn't gone as far as it might have had they not. At least he still had a shred of dignity. At least he could walk away from this one with the knowledge that he hadn't actually spilled his desire – literally – for his team mate all over the pavement of a public bath house.

Hadn't. But almost.

He sighed loudly.

He really was losing his mind. And he was losing it over a woman. A vivacious, sexy, violent, pink-haired woman that was taking his breath away.

He hurried quickly toward the changing room.

Kami help him.

Because no one else could.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there you have it, I hope you like it!**

**See I told you there would be citrus. Ok, so it's kinda one-sided citrus at the mo, but just take what you're given for now, because it will all work out in the end. You should know by now I don't like rushing things XP**

**So enjoy this long chapter while you can, because now I really don't know if I will have time to write any more after this, but I promise you all as soon as I can I will update again. I'm enjoying this too much not to!**

**See you all next time! XD**

**And please review, and let me know what you think so far!**


	8. Dance with the Devil

**A/N:** First of all let me start by saying I am really sorry it took this long to get this to you guys. I have been really busy since I got back from holiday, and have only been able to write sometimes a paragraph a night.

Also this chapter is the longest I have ever written, over 13,000 words long so I'm hoping that that will make up for it's lateness! Clandestine Heart is rapidly approaching it's climax (sorry for the pun, lol), and there are only two chapters to come after this so it will be a ten chapter story all up. I plan to have this story completed by the end of the year.

Thank you so, so, sooo much for your awesome reviews. I am still astounded by how many people seem to be enjoying this story, and it's you who keep me going.

I still don't own Naruto.

So, without further ado, I give you The Ball.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Dance with the Devil**

Sakura hurriedly splashed the cool tap water in her face as she hung her head over the bathroom's small sink. Her pink locks tumbled carelessly off of her shoulders and into the spray that was coming from the faucet below.

With her eyes clenched tightly closed – partially to prevent the water from entering her eyes (but really her body's physical reaction to the afternoon's embarrassing events) she reached out blindly to clasp hold of the fluffy white towel which dangled off the rail to her right, and pressed it firmly to her face. She then proceeded to scream into it. It turned out to be a conveniently soundproof tool.

When she felt she had vented her frustrations enough for now, she slowly lowered the soft material from her face, and raised her eyes to study her abashed reflection in the mirror before her.

The torrent of emotions which covered her face was overwhelming. There were many thoughts and feelings reflected there, as if this mirror was not reflecting her physically, but instead reflecting what was inside her head, and revealing it to the world. Shame, dismay, frustration. Hurt, embarrassment, neglect. A bit of pride, and victory. But, there was also disgust there, regret, sadness, loneliness, also guilt. Not the least of which, there was anger.

Who was she angry at? At Sasuke? For sure. She couldn't believe she had caught him red-handed, peeping on her as if he was nothing more than an old perve like Jiraiya or Kakashi, and she was nothing more than a common village girl at the local bathhouse. _How dare he!_

But that wasn't it.

Her eyebrows knitted together again in frustration.

No, that wasn't why she was angry. In truth she had actually been secretly flattered that he had wanted to perve on her so badly that he had risked inciting her infamous wrath, and jeopardized his very life for it. The way that his breathing had risen and his chakra had flared uncontrollably had excited her as well. The confirmation that her object of many years infatuation desired _her_ as much, if not more than she had once desired him had her ego swelling – even while those annoying butterflies continued their onslaught of her belly.

So she wasn't angry at him for spying on her, but there were many other reasons for her to be vexed by him.

Why was he doing this? Why . . . why had he ignored her affections for all their childhood, left her by herself when she had begged him not to, allowed her to believe that she meant nothing to him, stayed away for years giving her the time that she needed to finally wash her hands of him . . . only to show up again and drop back into her life like he'd never left, and _NOW_ he chose to want her.

She could feel herself getting angrier and angrier as she thought about it. Honestly, how _selfish_ could that man be? She felt like screaming again. Or at the very least she felt like walking out of the bathroom door and punching him in his too-handsome face.

Hah. She smiled wickedly at her own reflection as she imagined breaking his precious nose for him.

* * *

Sasuke perched on the edge of their small bed in their equally small room.

Outwardly, he was a picture of calmness.

But his outward appearance belied his inner torment.

He had lost his grip on reality, of that much he was positive.

He wasn't sure exactly when it had happened, or why, but at some stage he had lost his control of the game that he and Sakura were silently playing, and he now had the distinct feeling that he was slowly but surely losing to a stronger opponent.

He had certainly underestimated his tiny companion. He was ashamed of himself now, at how arrogant he had been to have expected her to be the same unconfident, under-skilled, annoying little girl that she had been when he had left all those long years ago.

No, this new Sakura was a force to be reckoned with.

Sasuke ran a hand through his ebony hair as he found himself at a crossroads. He didn't really have any clue where to go from here. Did he keep playing his game with her? Or just put his head down and continue on with their mission as ordered?

First thing was first though. He needed to go into town to collect the suit which Tsunade had hired for him for the ball. It was impractical to carry a suit on the road as it would have been hideously crumpled from his pack by now.

He pulled the small white docket from his pack and scanned over the address written there. It was not too far from where they were staying, and he was eager to get some fresh air anyway. The tension in the room was beginning to suffocate him. He could feel it radiating out from behind the closed bathroom door.

Hesitantly he rose to his feet and crossed to the ensuite.

He tentatively knocked on the door and cleared his throat.

"Uh, I'm going out for half an hour or so, I've got some things to do before tonight." He hoped she wouldn't question him.

He was lucky. The only response he got was a hurried, "Ok!" followed by some fumbling noises, a small crashing sound and a mumbled, "_Shit_!"

Sasuke took his opportunity and hurried out of the room.

* * *

Sakura had made up her mind.

She was sick of playing games with Sasuke. She had neither the motivation nor the patience to continue this childish jousting with him, not when she had much more important things to worry about. Like the mission ahead, which drew steadily closer with every passing minute. If he wanted to continue his stupid little battle with her he could play with himself – she refused to lower herself to his level. She had battled some of the most infamous shinobi in the world, stopped missing-nin in their tracks with a single blow from her fist, and taken down the sadistic Akatsuki puppet-master Sasori. There was no way she was going to let a little sexual banter with her insolent and arrogant childhood friend reduce her to compromising her mission.

She raised her head to the mirror in front of her and looked herself squarely in the face.

She pushed back her shoulders, held her head high, took a deep cleansing breath, and as she slowly released it she let all of the tensions of the last two days pour out of her body with it.

Now ready to face the world, she set towards preparing herself for the evening ahead.

Reaching deep into her pack, she pulled out the secret case which she had lodged into its depths. The silver box gleamed under the fluorescent lights which crowned the mirror, and she unfastened the two securing clasps at the front then swung the lid open to reveal a collection of well used odds and ends of numerous makeup apparatus and utensils.

Not being the type to wear makeup herself, (except on the very rare occasion when she had a shinobi function, or on the even _rarer_ occasions when Ino managed to drag her out for a night on the town) Sakura looked forlornly at the contents of the case. Most she had inherited from her mother when she had passed away not two years before, and others had been bought for her or given to her by her promiscuous childhood nemesis, and as she perused the various pottles and palettes and tubes and tubs she realised belatedly that she had absolutely no idea what half of the stuff before her was, let alone how to use it.

It was times like these that she actually wished she had taken up Ino's endless offers of 'beauty guidance'.

Sighing heavily with the effort of having to learn a new skill which was so foreign compared to her usual exploits, she decided that trial and error would have to be the order of the evening.

She scanned her memories back to one of those rare occasions in Ino's apartment preparing for a dreaded night out and tried to envisage her friend's ritual.

Foundation. Wasn't that what Ino had always started with? She felt a glimmer of hope as she spied what appeared to be the substance she was looking for. Spreading a very small amount of the liquid for now into her hands she proceeded to apply the foundation to her face, and after much smoothing and blending, to her delight she found the end result quite pleasing. Now with a flawless complexion to work with she felt the courage to move on to the next step.

Powder.

Ino had always said, usually while vainly admiring herself mid-application, _"A finishing powder is essential to creating a perfect smooth result."_

_Powder, powder, powder_ . . . she knew she had seen a container of the fine skin-coloured particles _somewhere_ amidst the clutter of cast-offs. Rifling through the bottom of the case she came across several palettes of colourful powders which she would need at a later stage and she held them in one hand as she continued her search. There was a black tube with a wand in it which she recognised as mascara, and that was added to the collection in her arms also. A nice shade of lipstick, and a pencil – she presumed for her eyes – joined the burgeoning pile which she now had to hold to her chest to keep from dropping, just as she spotted an over-sized brush, and, memory sparking with recognition yet again she moved the brush to her other hand to continue the search for the substance with which she would be using it to apply.

Just as she spotted the round pottle of fine dust at the very bottom of the box, and had drawn it out holding it triumphantly before her, there came a knock at the bathroom door.

The sudden interruption to her concentration caused her to jump slightly, and, panicking irrationally at the thought that Sasuke may come in to find her like this (as it dawned on her she had forgotten to lock the door) she almost lost her grip on her armful of goodies, and when he called something to her about going out for a bit, it was all she could do to cry out a hurried, "Ok!"

As she did so, she tried to deposit her load on the modest area of bench space around the sink, and had almost succeeded in balancing them safely around the edge when the powder pot grasped precariously in her right hand slipped from her grip and tumbled into the basin below, spilling it's entire contents in the process.

"_Shit!"_

She reached up and gripped both sides of her hair in her hands in frustration and let out a little growl of annoyance just as she heard the bedroom door closing.

Had Sasuke said where he was going? She wasn't sure. She couldn't really give two toots right now anyway. She had bigger things to worry about. Like what was she going to do without any powder??

Oh well, she thought to herself.

She had never listened to Ino before. Why start now?

* * *

_[One hour later]_

* * *

Sakura stared into the mirror before her for a long while.

The person that she saw there stared right back at her.

But it wasn't her.

It looked like her on the surface; same bright green eyes, same pastel pink waist-length hair. Same tiny silver scar just below her left earlobe which she had gotten before she had learnt how to heal, and had decided to keep even when she did.

But it _wasn't_ her. At least, it wasn't the girl that she had known all the years of her life up until this point. It wasn't a girl at all.

It was a woman. _She_ was a woman.

That person in the mirror was the woman that she had become.

She had gone through a metamorphosis during this mission. She had faced up to her fears, to her biggest fear: Sasuke. She realised now that she had held him so high, on this mythological pedestal where she had honestly believed that she could never live up to him, she could never be good enough for him, she could never be _better_ than him. And because of her idolisation of him, she had made herself so intimidated by him that she had never tried to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Until now.

She was so proud of herself today. She had stood up to the mighty Uchiha and had managed to win back her dignity.

And now - she foresaw, as she gazed over her finished product in the glass - now she would show him what she was truly capable of.

She had been a caterpillar trapped in her cocoon, and now she had emerged; the butterfly.

And tonight was the night she would spread her wings and fly for the very first time.

The sound of the bedroom door opening interrupted her thoughts just then, and she hurriedly put away the last of her things off the bench, washed her hands, and straightened down her ball gown.

She looked into the mirror one last time, then took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself, before she opened the door and walked out into the room beyond.

* * *

Sasuke heard the bathroom door open quietly behind him.

He raised one hand and smoothed his hair back into place, pressed his hand to his neck and readjusted his collar, then turned to face his partner.

What he saw when he did stole his breath away.

There before him stood the most beautiful creature he had ever set eyes upon.

The woman before him stood with her head dipped humbly in modesty, her bright jade eyes looking timidly into his own in anticipation of his reaction. Those spectacular orbs were now decorated tastefully; a splattering of iridescent green powder decorated her eyelids, and they were framed with a carefully crafted border of black liner which flicked up slightly at the outer corners or her eyes, further enhancing their almond shape. Her flawless complexion had been additionally complemented by a delicate dusting of blush over the apples of her cheeks, making her appear as though she were permanently blushing. Sasuke decided at once that he liked that look very much.

Her full lips were coated with a smattering of pale pink gloss, which made them shine brilliantly, and she had even dramatised a small beauty spot with a speck of black ink, a spot which ordinarily was unnoticeable, and it drew the onlooker's eye to her enticing mouth. Cherry blossom locks had been pinned and curled and twisted into an intricate sculpture which was swept to one side and cascaded over her left shoulder and down her bare arm, the silky strands glistened and sparkled with a shimmering of glitter dust, making them twinkle like diamonds under the ceiling light.

The flowing satin gown that caressed her every curve was almost an exact replica of the intense shade of her eyes, and the combination of shining emerald and her porcelain complexion was very easy on the eye. The dress itself tumbled all the way to the floor, the halter neckline and cowl décolletage caused the silky fabric to pool flatteringly at her chest revealing teasingly behind the folds a plunging cleavage and the tiniest hint of a lacy black brassiere.

The fabric tapered in tightly at the waist, hugging her petite figure like a glove, and he could see long ridges beneath the material where a whale-bone corset was built into the design. Below her hips however, the satin flowed freely to the floor, where a pair of black strapped heels poked out from beneath.

She spun around then, giving him a view of the back side of the gown, and looked coyly over her shoulder seeking his approval.

A broad strip of fabric stretched across the smooth planes of her back, spanning from armpit to armpit, but below that her back was bare all the way to the small of her back, where a tiny tattoo of the kanji for 'Hope and Perseverance' trailed down her spine, barely clearing the edge of the fabric which stopped there in a 'V' which pointed like an arrow towards her shapely bottom.

Sasuke did a double-take at that; how on earth had he not noticed _that_ when he was watching her at the bathhouse?? He could only deduce that perhaps it had been the harsh sunlight that had foiled him, or perhaps he was just a bit too preoccupied in his own pleasure by that stage to notice? Whatever it had been, the delicate mark was very obvious to him now, tiny though it was, in fact the entire length of it could not have been more than about three inches, and only half an inch wide. It was greatly complementary to her though, and the dress itself seemed as if it had been made to accommodate it.

Just below her posterior the material gathered at each side once again and caused a cowl of fabric which matched the breast, the folds pooling just beneath her pert behind and enhancing her shape; the resulting look reminded Sasuke of the bustles that he had seen western ladies of the turn of the century era wear in old magazines. Below that the material draped gracefully to the ground, just shy of the rough wooden floor beneath.

Sasuke tried desperately to hide his hungry desire for her, but was unable to avoid his clearly approving expression, so he smirked and raised an eyebrow, and nodded to himself as he looked her up and down.

Then, with all the effort that an emotionless Uchiha could muster, he forced to himself to voice aloud, for once in his life, what was truly on his mind.

"You look beautiful."

* * *

Sakura's heart skipped a beat.

It was only three little words, but they were words that she had ached to hear from his mouth for most of her short life.

She almost could not believe that it was he who had uttered them – surely her mind was playing tricks on her and she was hallucinating. She knew that it would have taken a considerable effort on his part to voice such a thing, and she was secretly proud of him for it. He had come a long way over the course of their mission, that was for sure.

She knew already that he desired her, that much was obvious by the way that he looked at her. Her heart swelled with happiness, and she was extremely proud of her efforts in the bathroom. If this was the reaction she got when she dressed up perhaps she would do it more often.

She herself had had difficulty controlling her own reaction when she had stepped through the bathroom door and laid her eyes upon her team mate.

He was devilishly handsome in a three-piece suit; black dress jacket with tails, tailored perfectly to his broad chest and shoulders, his silver-grey waistcoat and matching silk cravat tie decorating the wing-collared white shirt looked absolutely debonair, and as she looked him up and down from his slicked back ebony hair all the way down to his perfectly creased black dress pants and his highly shined black Oxfords, she found herself wishing that men would dress like this all the time.

She had cautiously chosen not to comment however until she had determined his reaction to her own attire, and had quickly composed herself enough to do a quick spin for him, revealing the reverse of her dress, and enjoying her moment of glory.

She had certainly not been prepared for such a gracious compliment however, and after she had recovered from the shock of it she managed to put together a suitable response.

"Thank you, Sasuke. You look very handsome yourself," she admitted quietly.

Sasuke surprised her again then, by breaking out into an attractive boyish grin, the likes of which she was sure had very rarely, if _ever_, adorned his beautiful face, and she found herself unable to prevent the identical grin which had crept onto her own.

Grinning madly at each other like children – or lunatics – Sasuke held up his arm for her to take, and they walked together towards the door. After a short trip along the hall, and down the stairs to the front entrance of the building (with every eye in the vicinity jealously following them along the way) they stepped out into the night air, where a majestic horse-drawn carriage awaited them, footman ready with door open and hand held out to assist.

Sakura gasped with delight and turned to beam at Sasuke, just as he reached into his inner jacket pocket and drew out their invitation cards, handing one to her as he did so. There in flowing black calligraphy was written: _Mrs Kumiko Akimoto_.

She looked up at him in surprise. "I like it. But what, my dear husband do I call you?" She raised one brow questioningly.

"I'm shocked Mrs Akimoto," he scolded her teasingly, "How very scandalous of you to have not even gotten your husband's name before you wed him."

He grinned at her and she grinned back, and he turned to face her, taking her right hand into his as he did so.

"Taisho Akimoto at your service."

He raised her hand to his lips and placed a delicate kiss there, looking deep into her eyes as he did.

"Madame," he began as he lowered her hand, but continued to hold it in his own. He looked towards the coach and she followed his gaze.

"Your chariot awaits."

* * *

***

* * *

Sakura had never seen anything so grand in all her life.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared in awe at the magnificent spectacle before her. The palace was even more incredible than she had ever imagined; the sheer size of the magnificent stone pillars stately lining its spacious front, the overwhelming presence of the six story building itself towering high above the staff and guests at its feet, each scurrying about like hyperactive ants in the forecourt below.

An imposing circle of wrought-iron gates surrounded the courtyard, each evenly spaced gate-post topped with an ornament of pure gold, dazzling under the glow from the placid moon above and the giant spotlights which scanned the sky like a majestic ballet of light, a silent announcement of the festivities at hand and a beacon to guide its guests to the ultimate location of dreams and marvels, the likes of which many of these humble newcomers had never seen.

The sky itself was turned almost to day; radiant light illuminated the tepid evening air as it shined brightly out of every window in the intimidating citadel. And citadel was really the word for it. As Sakura gazed astonishingly up at the immense structure before her, she noticed that it was really more a work of art than a functioning facility. It was overwhelming, stunning, beautiful, and, _monstrous_ all at once. Some parts, she contemplated, as her vision carried further to the upper extremities of the palace, were quite purely . . . grotesque.

At the ground level it started out relatively normal. Romanesque pillars of stone proudly framed the grand entrance, and here the walls of the building itself were right-angled and perpendicular. A trusty builder's level had obviously been employed to good use here.

However, as each level rose higher and higher into the dense mountainous air, things started to get a little strange.

By the third floor, the straight lines had begun to weep, keening to either side in a cartoon-like display, the definitions between floors had been replaced by a shaky line, reminiscent of a child's freehand sketch. The panels covering the front façade of the building were no longer smooth as marble, but now ridged with edges of protruding stone – or whatever the substance that covered the surface of it was - from this distance it was impossible for Sakura to tell.

Higher still the entire compilation of the building began to take on a fantastical look, small spires and gables were rising out of every nook and cranny, sporadically placed with seemingly no real plan, each one having no physical resemblance to the other and styled in its own unique fashion. Several strange looking birds seemed to have taken to the odd design, and it wasn't hard to see why. The resulting hodgepodge look reminded Sakura very much of a poorly made bird's nest.

At the sixth and uppermost floor, the structure had morphed into the utterly bizarre. At the very centre of the monumental castle a tower fashioned much like a steeple plunged high into the sky above and, much to Sakura's absolute astonishment, the peak even disappeared into the low lying clouds above. To either side of the gargantuan tower the façade was a peculiar mix of raised stone ridges, in some places, tiles, cobbles, or bricks in other areas, and even a few smooth planes of unblemished marble, all interspersed with various sized and styled windows. She could even see an unnecessary porthole or two. Several other spires and towers rose high above the sixth floor, but the few windows that she could see obscured between protruding ledges and balconies (and even a few unsettling looking sculptures and gargoyles) seemed to follow no real pattern, and it was impossible to differentiate where one level stopped and the next began. She could not for the life of her work out how the interior would have worked on those uppermost levels, and she wasn't sure she really wanted to. That upper portion of the strange palace looked to Sakura like something out of a very vivid nightmare, reminding her of the eerie and sometimes frightening works of such artists as Munch and Dali.

Sakura silently mused that the architect was quite likely out of his mind.

Her sharp mind recorded every single detail however. Every oddity and nonsensical sight was logged away into the depths of her memory as she analysed the building and its surroundings for quick reference in her inevitable mission report.

She took note of the royal guards lining the outer courtyard and front entrance of the palace, her analytical mind quickly calculating their number to be well over a hundred. All were dressed pristinely in regal formal military attire, and all looked alert and ready for anything. They stood, straight up and down, with white-gloved hands at their sides, and a polished and well maintained sabre hanging from their hip. Gold brocading, buttons and for some, medals, decorated their royal blue uniforms, and their stiff military hats sat proud upon their crown.

At her side Sasuke was rapidly doing the same. They had decided in the carriage on the way that they would split their task into two categories; reconnoitring the lay of the land, and personnel intelligence, and then focus on one area each. Sakura was to take personnel intel, as she was, quite obviously, the better of the two for studying the mannerisms, body language, and general demeanour of the guards, the royal staff, friends and dignitaries and of course the Daimyo himself. Sasuke on the other hand had scores of tactical and strategic experience from his years as a missing-nin, and much more experience in general out in the field, so he would be reconnoitring and surveying the physicality of the area for their report.

As he looked around the locale now he could see several points of interest. The large semicircle of enormous wrought-iron gates formed a protective barrier at the forefront of the palace, the fortified structure and transparent quality of the gate allowing those locked inside to have advanced warning of an enemy attack, and to then use archers or other ranged attacks to defend the palace from safely behind the gates. This was then enforced even further, Sasuke noticed as he continued to scan the area, by the proximity of the mountain range which began at the rear of the fortress, its enormous vertical cliff face looming menacingly over the sovereign's residence below, the sides of the giant jagged rock curving protectively around the palace as if embracing it. Sasuke understood at once what a strong position this put the monarch in. If his castle were to be attacked, the attackers only choice would be to come at them from the front - as the mountains at the aft were far too treacherous for even the strongest soldier to traverse let alone an entire army – and this meant their only point of entry were the gates of the courtyard, which would be a struggle for any force to reckon with.

Sasuke nodded to himself approvingly as he looked around. From what little he had seen so far he was impressed with the security measures that were obviously being taken here. The Daimyo was clearly a wise man.

The two made their way casually up the centre of the courtyard following the numerous other guests as they ambled along the broad red carpet which had been laid for the occasion. As they passed under the enormous gold-inlaid archway which formed the entrance to the palace, Sakura could barely contain her excitement. She had never been to a ball before, and this was certainly the grandest occasion she was likely to ever attend in the span of her life.

They followed the queue of guests into the foyer which, in actuality was more of an atrium. It rose high above, the ceiling was so high in fact that it appeared to stop only at the base of the large steeple-like structure that Sakura had seen from outside, its enormous circular window with intricate design cast strange-patterned shadows across the rear wall and its Gothicized style sent shivers down her spine.

The collection of guests around them became more condensed now, and the foot traffic slowed as people flowed through the narrower doorway that led from the entrance hall into the ballroom itself. Above the collection of heads Sakura could just see the golden glow and high ceilings of the room beyond, and as they passed through the double doors and into their destination for the evening the excessive grandeur of the room met their eyes at last.

Both shinobi stopped in their tracks and gaped up and around at the room that surrounded them.

As advanced as Konohagakure was compared to some of the other villages, it had nothing on this place.

Sakura was almost blinded by the brilliance surrounding her. Dazzling gold gleamed as far as the eye could see. Gold cornices lined the edges of the room, joining the ceiling and the walls in an extravagant display of wealth. The scotia around each doorway was also inlaid with gold patterning and design, as was the frieze which ran around the entire room, its abstract motif an exact replica of the cornice, and perfectly complementing the many golden ornaments which perched upon cream coloured pedestals lining the ballroom.

Gigantic elaborate gold chandeliers dripping with sparkling crystals hung low overhead, and were reflected in the equally excessive gold-framed mirrors which lined the adjacent wall, making the ballroom and everything in it look as if it continued on further, the scene which was visible through the glass trapped in another dimension, unreachable to the identical setting it reflected.

White-clothed tables were laid out in a semi-circle facing a stage at the head of the room, which was decorated, if possible, even more lavishly than the ballroom itself. Giant sheets of purple silk billowed down from the ceiling around a decadently adorned pure gold throne; the chair itself so massive that there was a small stepping stool at the base of it, decorated in lush purple velvet which matched the lining of the great throne itself.

There were matching miniature versions of the central throne, perched to the left and right of it, and at the rear of the three were myriads of luxurious silk cushions stitched with intricate patterns in silver and gold thread, which lay at the base of a gigantic violet and gold arras or tapestry.

Sasuke noticed at once the recurring theme of purple and gold. Purple was well renowned as the colour of royalty, and it seemed that the Daimyo was using his interior decorating to reaffirm his position as ruler of Lightning. The exorbitant use of gold further revealed his insecurities; he was clearly trying to imprint in his subjects' minds that _he_ held the power, and that nothing was outside his grasp. The entire palace and all it contained were so hedonistic that Sasuke wondered what could have caused the Daimyo to feel so apprehensive of his title that he required such profligacy.

He turned his attentions to the other side of the room. Reflected in the giant mirrors he had seen that the parallel wall was made almost entirely of glass, and as he looked upon it now he could see that it very nearly was. The expansive panes of polished glass stretched all the way from the base of the floor, leaving a gap of mere inches where it finished at the ceiling. At the very centre were two large doors made also of pure glass, cut into the mammoth window as if with a giant knife.

Outside through that massive transparent wall was visible a beautiful view of the palace gardens, stretching as far as the eye could see. Beautifully maintained flowerbeds and lawns and small hedges decorated the land, boxed in areas were edged and filled in with small white pebbles, and there was even a sand garden, raked and brushed into various spirals and designs. A small man-made lake was the garden's central landmark, the elaborate gold fountain at its centre a picture of fantastical display; creatures and demons and cherubs all lovingly carved and playing silently and stationary amidst the spray which burst forth from the mouth of a giant golden snake, like an anaconda, at the apex of the structure.

Sasuke mentally noted that great glass wall as something of importance. It was very beautiful, and picturesque for those looking out; but for prospective enemies looking _in_ it was a major defensive weak-spot. If an enemy _were_ to get past the great gates at the forefront of the palace, it would be a matter of mere seconds to penetrate the building, thanks to this giant window display. Sasuke likened it to a flashing neon sign saying, _"Please, come in, make yourselves at home!"_.

Sakura was also still scanning the room for details of importance. She noticed that in the interior of the palace, the guards were dressed differently to those she had seen outside. She could see only about a dozen or so guards in the ballroom currently, and they were dressed not in the royal blue of the regular guard, but in a formal black uniform, with red lining around the cuffs and collar, and a red silk sash hung off of the sabre at their hip. These soldiers looked slightly older and more battle-hardened than the others, and they each scanned the room and guests within tirelessly, scrutinising every detail with alert eyes and a ready stance. These were clearly the Daimyo's personal bodyguard, handpicked for their fearlessness and accuracy, and, Sakura presumed, willingness to give their lives for their leader.

An usher greeted them then, dressed entirely in white, taking their invitation cards and directing them to their table. Sakura was pleased to see that they were led towards the front of the semi-circle of tables. This would make it even easier to achieve their task and mingle with the Daimyo's closest and most loyal subjects.

They took their place at the elongated table to which they were assigned, they were seated opposite each other and were currently the only ones at the table, which Sakura could see had seating enough for twelve.

The table was beautifully decorated. Sakura looked wistfully down at its arrangement and marvelled at the extravagance yet again. At its centre stood a large silver candelabrum with every one of its tall lavender candles lit, and the flickering flames threw multiple shadows across the white linen. Each setting had been laid out immaculately; polished silver wine goblets and tall water glasses all spaced apart and placed with measured precision, five forks of various size, three knives, two spoons, and one unidentifiable utensil were laid out in a uniform arrangement at either side of a crisp white linen napkin folded into the shape of an orchid.

Sakura risked a glance at Sasuke to see how her socially-inept partner was coping.

He had the same unfazed expression on his face as always, but as she looked closer she could see that his eyes were skirting all over the place, and she could see the muscles in his jaw working overtime as he ground his teeth relentlessly.

He was nervous all right.

Sakura could see in the distance another white-clad usher making his way to their table, weaving expertly through the throngs of guests, and leading behind him a large rosy-cheeked gentleman, and a tiny, dark-haired beauty, who was so petite she almost got lost at the side of her enormous companion. The usher skidded to a halt near Sakura's side and stood at attention as he announced the new arrivals.

"It is my great honour to introduce to you the Brigadier Adaru Nishimura and his wife Badoriya Nishimura of the Dentou no Dansu province." The usher bowed politely, then retreated to attend to the numerous other guests awaiting their tables.

Both Sasuke and Sakura had stood at the couple's arrival, and now they bowed and curtsied respectively before Sasuke completed the introductions.

"I am Taisho Akimoto of Hi no Kuni, and this is my wife, Kumiko."

Sakura smiled politely, but eyed Badoriya with barely suppressed astonishment as Sasuke and the Brigadier shook hands. She had to have been half of the Brigadier's age, if that, and she was about an eighth of his size. They were like beauty and the beast. Sakura blushed as she tried hard not to picture the physical dynamics of such a relationship.

Sakura went to take her seat as Badoriya did the same, but as she went to pull her chair away from the table Sasuke's hand appeared on top of her own, halting her in her movements.

"Let me get that for you."

He took her hand in his own, then pulled her chair away with his other hand and lowered her into her chair as he pushed it back towards the table in one fluid movement. Sakura eyed him with curious amusement.

As they both looked back towards their new acquaintances they became aware that across the table from them apparently their interaction had caused a bit of a stir.

Badoriya had halted mid-way into easing her own chair away from the table, and now stood looking at her husband expectantly.

"Of course," The Brigadier grunted brusquely, and fumbled to do the same for his own wife, looking half as graceful as Sasuke had while performing the manoeuvre. Sakura thought she could see a hint of colour stain the Brigadier's already ruddy cheeks, and as he took the seat next to her she could feel his embarrassment at being shown up by Sasuke in front of his wife. She smiled to herself at the thought that Sasuke could outclass a man such as this in manners. How times had changed.

Over the next half hour the rest of their table of twelve arrived in dribs and drabs. The introductions seemed endless, and once they had met everyone who would be joining their group for the evening they fell into small groups of conversation with those in their immediate vicinity.

Sakura had begun to converse with the Brigadier and Captain Kazuma Yoshikuni, who was seated across the table from them on the other side of Badoriya. They were currently discussing the poor state of Kaminari's Royal Army.

". . . the men are tough, battle-hardened and loyal . . . but they won't be for much longer if he keeps this up," the young Captain was informing the Brigadier.

"Yes, I have spoken to Daimyo Nakashima several times and he insists that he will get around to it . . . but he always seems to have some excuse or other as to why he can't at the present time."

"Probably has to buy more solid gold buttons for his silk night-cap. And he wonders why his people rebel against us."

The Brigadier snorted in agreement. "Careful, Captain, you know how our beloved Daimyo deals with treason, and in a place like this even the walls have ears."

"Excuse me, Mr Nishimura," Sakura interrupted quietly, "I don't mean to sound presumptuous, but it sounds like you both feel some contempt towards the Daimyo . . . I was wondering, why is that? From what I saw the men seem to be well dressed and immaculately presented, and they look battle-eager . . . what exactly is it that the Army wants of their leader?"

The Captain answered her. "The men that you see here tonight, they are not an indication of the majority of the Army. The Daimyo has picked a small number of the most loyal men, and dressed them in the finest uniforms, on top of that they are being paid extra for the night, in the hopes that it will make them appear content with their jobs . . . and from your own first impression it seems as though it is working."

The Brigadier leaned closer to quietly elaborate further. "What you see here is not a true example of how this country's Army is faring. On a regular day, outside these walls the men work in poor conditions, for long hours. They are under-fed and over-worked, their clothing, equipment, weapons, barracks and facilities are in desperate need of repair or replacement, and they are treated badly by a few corrupt superiors. Those of us who do want the Army to be great are not given nearly enough money to fix its numerous problems." He took a deep breath and sighed. "The truth is, Mrs Akimoto, the Daimyo only cares about one thing. Himself. All he wants is to live in his ostentatious palace, and spend, and wine and dine, and spend some more, and piss away everything that his father worked hard to build for this country."

"Kumiko, please. Was his father a great leader?"

"Kumiko. His father, Daimyo Keito Nakashima the third, was probably the greatest ruler this country has ever seen."

"And now the people are rebelling?"

"Some of the people are rebelling. Yes."

"And you're afraid there may be a revolution?"

He shifted in his seat and looked briefly at the Captain before returning to her. "Very perceptive of you, Kumiko. Yes, I am afraid there may be a revolution. The people are becoming tired of seeing a new golden statue of their ruler on every street corner while their wives and children are starving to death, and they are being taxed exorbitantly on the little they do earn to accommodate an over-indulgent tyrant."

"Hmm." Sakura turned to the young Captain. "And what are your thoughts, Captain Yoshikuni? How do the young men of the Army feel about their employer?"

"Please, call me Kazuma. Well, Kumiko, my men and myself are loyal to the state. If our Daimyo wants us to fight, we fight. If he wants us to starve, we starve."

He looked around at the Army men alert at their posts around the room. His voice lowered conspiratorially as he continued. "But if the people _do_ decide to revolt . . . I'm not sure how many of these men could attack a civilian who was just fighting for their right to live." His voice turned passionate. "I mean, attacking a man who has been trained like you to fight for his country is one thing. I just don't think that I or anyone else for that matter would be able to attack an impoverished, starving woman or child, for the sake of one tyrannical dictator. And I think a few would even turncoat and join them. I would probably be one of them."

Sakura smiled approvingly at the Captain and took a sip from her freshly poured wine.

Sasuke watched Sakura closely from the other side of the table.

He was desperately trying to concentrate on what Badoriya was saying to him, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so. He was far too busy watching his team-mate.

The room around them was abuzz. Drinks waiters took orders and delivered collections of multicoloured concoctions on silver trays held high above their heads as they weaved through the crowds. A band who had set up in the corner were entertaining the guests with fanciful melodies and symphonies. The patrons around them chattered and laughed and mumbled and gossiped.

But Sasuke was only interested in one person.

He was absolutely fascinated at the way she had been able to effortlessly milk information from both the young Captain and the Army's Brigadier. Charm oozed off of her, as she smiled and talked and listened and commented at all the right times. She held herself like a lady, her manners were impeccable, she was intelligent and she knew the limits of what she should or shouldn't say. He could see the way that the two men were absorbed with whatever came from her mouth, and he felt a sense of pride that, even if only for tonight, and even if only in other people's minds, tonight she belonged to him.

At his own side the beautiful Badoriya was gossiping mindlessly about what the other woman were wearing, and who was sleeping with whose husband, and who had fallen out of grace with the Daimyo and who had not. Sasuke had tried to ask her a few questions about the Daimyo which would help with their mission, but had gotten nothing but superficial rubbish from the mouth of the young gold-digger.

As Sasuke looked at the dark-haired beauty, and tried again to at least pretend he was interested in what she had to say, he realised that even with her perfectly sculptured figure, her big brown eyes and her porcelain-doll face, she was not what he desired. He did not want a woman that was just going to be a beautiful accessory. He wanted a woman who could think for herself, and who had an opinion about matters that were important to her. He wanted a woman who was passionate and free-spirited.

Yes, the woman at his side, Badoriya Nishimura, was beautiful.

But she didn't hold a candle to Sakura.

Just then the music ceased, and a commanding voice cut through the murmuring and excited chatter of the guests, quieting them abruptly.

"_Please rise and welcome their Honourable Highnesses, the Daimyo Keitaro Nakashima, and his son, Crowned Prince Kiyoshi Nakashima of Sorakara no Hi, Kaminari no Kuni!"_

Every head in the room turned to appraise the much awaited appearance of their host, and the son for whom the occasion was called for.

Keitaro Nakashima entered the ballroom through the rear of the stage, from a secret door hidden in the giant tapestry which hung there. He walked like a man with no fear, he not so much walked as strode, strode into the centre of the stage with head held high and arms swinging at his sides. He was a powerful looking man, his regal and overwhelming presence radiated off him in waves, and Sakura could feel a sense of awe and reverence fill the room.

He was decorated so excessively it was ridiculous. Several large chains and medallions of gold representing his various titles and duties hung lavishly around his neck at the front, while a long velveteen violet cape hung down his back almost to the ground. He was dressed in a burgundy double-breasted suede suit, underneath which could be seen a cream silk shirt with so many ruffles and frills protruding out from under the suit that it could very well have been a blouse. At his neck a matching cream silk cravat was tied in a decadent bow.

Every one of his stubby fingers was adorned with at least one chunky gold ring, many with large precious stones set into them, and atop his head he wore his pride and glory, the royal crown of Kaminari, solid gold and laden with gems, diamonds, crystals and various other prized jewels. The weight of his jewellery combined must have been immense, and Sakura thought to herself, that if anyone did want to knock off the Daimyo all they would have to do is push him into the lake outside. He would surely sink to the bottom in a matter of seconds and never return with all that getup on.

He strode his way to the front of the stage, and stepped up onto his footstool, his head held high and proud, then reached behind him and flicked his cape to the side before lowering himself into his throne. Behind him came his wife, a thin, paltry looking woman with pale skin and golden hair, who sidled in meekly and took the seat at her husband's left hand side.

As the Queen moved out of the way to take her seat, there behind her stood the Crowned Prince Kiyoshi.

Sakura's eyebrows rose with curiosity as she took in the sight. It seemed the prince was an extremely handsome man, and she could hear all the other woman in the room begin murmuring to each other most likely the exact same thing. His jet black hair was slicked back and oiled to a high gloss finish, tucked behind his ears hanging down to where it stopped just below his strong masculine jaw. His face was shaven, but with just a shadow of trimmed black stubble across the lower half of his face which further enhanced his masculinity.

His ebony hair was offset by a pair of the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They almost glowed out from his tanned face and pierced the room around them, as he took in the decadence before him which had been put together in honour of his own coming of age.

His attire was far less extravagant than his father's. He wore a formal black dinner suit and tails much like Sasuke and most of the other men in the room, but with a lavender silk waistcoat, and violet cummerbund to mark his royal status, and of course his smaller golden crown and one gold medallion around his neck which made him stand apart as a person of great importance.

He took his seat at his father's right hand side, and although she could tell that he was trying hard to control himself, Sakura could see that he was almost bursting with excitement on his special day.

The music started up again as the Daimyo indicated with an elegant wave of one of his gold adorned hands to continue.

Sakura was still looking at the young prince as he in turn looked around the room and tried to recognise familiar faces amongst his guests, and his gaze slowly came around to her own table, when suddenly their eyes locked for a second as he scanned over the faces there. The prince did an almost comical double-take, and snapped his gaze back to Sakura, and for one heart-stoppingly long minute they stared at each other across the room.

Sakura couldn't tear her eyes away as the prince regarded her with unadulterated interest and curiosity, and it was only when she heard the Brigadier calling her name that she realised someone was talking to her, and she pulled her focus back to her own table.

Sasuke was eyeing her suspiciously while at his side Badoriya rabbited on with hardly a pause for breath. Sakura turned and continued her conversation with Kazuma and the Brigadier, but she could now feel eyes watching her from across the room. Using all of her willpower she managed not to look back in the prince's direction.

Over the next hour the food was brought to their table, and they ate and chatted merrily together as the night wore on. Both Kazuma and Nishimura were wells of information when it came to inside knowledge on the Daimyo, and Sakura milked them for all they were worth. It was almost laughable how readily they answered her every question, and Sakura felt the most powerful she had in a long time. She was beginning to realise that being physically strong didn't mean everything in a mission. Some missions called for strength of mind and powers of speech and persuasion, and at that she was top of the class.

After the tables had been cleared away and drinks had been refilled and coffee brought to those who wanted it, the dance floor was cleared, and the band started up with a well known folk song. The first brave souls took to the dance floor, and slowly but surely other couples began to fill the floor.

Next to Sasuke, Badoriya looked forlornly at the revellers who were getting into the swing of it now, and looked back at her husband with big brown puppy-dog eyes.

"I want to dance."

"In a minute my dear, the Captain and I are just going over some final plans for next week's training excursion."

"But I want to dance now!" She pouted and frowned across the table.

The Brigadier sighed and turned to the Captain. "What the lady wants the lady gets, I'm afraid."

He stood from his chair with great effort and walked around the table to take his wife's hand and led her to the floor, where they began an awkward display which consisted mainly of the Brigadier standing in one spot shuffling his feet from side to side while his energetic young wife jumped and danced and spun around him.

Sakura looked away from the dance floor back to her own 'husband', only to find that he was already looking at her. They stared across the table at each other for a moment until, without warning, Sasuke stood from his chair and made his way around to Sakura's side, where he then leaned forward and offered her his hand.

"May I have this dance?" he drawled in his deep voice.

Sakura stared up at him in shock for a moment, before she remembered her manners.

"Of course."

She placed her hand into his and let him lead her to the dance floor.

If Sakura thought that she was nervous during their walk together towards the other dancing couples, it was nothing compared to the anxiety Sasuke was feeling.

Since he had been away for the most part of his adolescence and an occasion had not occurred since he had been back for him to worry, Sasuke had never had the need to learn to dance. Surprising though it may be, Orochimaru was not exactly the type to attend balls and dances, and so this would be the first formal dance he had ever been to in his life. This moment right now was the very part of this mission that he had been dreading since their briefing in Tsunade's office.

But, Sasuke Uchiha was never one to show up unprepared for anything – especially a mission on which hinged the rest of his career as a shinobi - so the night before they had left Konoha, he had taken matters into his own hands, and approached the one person who he knew would be able to help him, with the least possible embarrassment.

And so it was that Sasuke had found himself in Kakashi Hatake's apartment, taking ballroom dancing lessons.

Kakashi really had been invaluable. It was that day that Sasuke had discovered that the Sharingan had excellent benefits outside of battles as well. Kakashi himself had learnt the fine art of dancing by copying it with his Sharingan, and so Sasuke had done the same. Of course, in order for him to copy it, it meant that he and Kakashi had had to dance together, and as Sasuke remembered his tutorial he briefly pondered at how utterly mortified he would have been had someone walked in on him and Kakashi arm in arm dancing around his living room.

But the embarrassment of the situation had been worth it, or so Sasuke hoped, and he felt at least partially confident that his efforts would pay off tonight.

They stepped on to the dance floor just as the next song was beginning, and Sasuke was pleased to hear that it had a beat very similar to one of the dances that he and Kakashi had practiced. Recalling his lessons Sasuke flicked his wrist out just as they pulled in to an empty space on the dance floor, gracefully spinning Sakura out in front of him in a dazzling swirl of green satin where she came to a halt before him, wide eyes looking up at his in surprise. A smirk crept into the corner of his mouth automatically at her reaction, and as the song burst into full swing he snapped his wrist again pulling her firm against him, with his right hand and her left clasped together tightly and his other arm around her waist as she clutched his strong shoulder with her other hand.

Sakura was taken by surprise as Sasuke hurled them both into a swinging dance which perfectly complimented the music blasting from the band to their right. Around and around the dance floor they spun, Sakura had no time to think as she was swirled and dipped and pirouetted effortlessly by her handsome partner. Her heart was racing and her cheeks were flushed. She was having the time of her life.

For three whole rambunctious songs Sasuke tirelessly kept in time with the band, flowing easily from one upbeat song to the next. Thanks to their endless shinobi stamina they kept up the pace easily, but still it was all Sakura could do to grin wickedly and hold on tight and enjoy the moment. Even so, as they aced song after song she could swear she felt jealous eyes scrutinising them as they created an attractive display of youth and beauty on the dance floor.

The third song came to an end and they took the moment in between to catch their breath. As the next song began however, the pace had changed, and the band now cooed out a softer slower melody. Couples around them drew each other closer and began a slow intimate dance, where kisses were exchanged and wives lay their heads on their husband's chests as they swayed in time to the beat.

Sasuke looked down at Sakura, who was looking back at him with the same timid expression as his own. Both were flushed from a combination of exertion and uncertainty, and as Sasuke looked at her he realised that he could not rely on Sakura's direction any longer. It was time to man-up, and take control of this mission, his destiny, and this relationship – whatever it was – and make some decisions on his own.

With the arm that was wrapped around Sakura's waist he drew her firmly against him and pulled their clasped hands to his chest. He then began a slow shuffle in time to the tune.

At first Sakura lay her head naturally on Sasuke's broad chest, relishing the warmth there, and listening to his heart she could swear she felt and heard it pick up pace as she shifted her head against his chest. She kept her face to the side and looked out over the guests dancing around them - sure enough she caught a few glances in their direction - but nothing could bother her now as she savoured the moment.

Their faces were only inches apart. Sakura pulled her head away and chanced a look up at Sasuke, only to find him already looking down at her. They swayed together like that, looking into each other's eyes, each trying to make sense of the jumble of new emotions they were experiencing, for what seemed like forever.

Sakura studied his face, and all of the little things she found there fascinated her. She had never seen him up this close before, and every little freckle or scar was a delightful new discovery for her. She made a map of his face in her head, the strong line of his jaw, the shape of his nose, the curve of his lips, these were the things she imprinted in her mind, afraid that she may never get this close again, and dreading the thought.

Finally she allowed herself to look deep into his eyes; those ebony orbs that incited so many unspoken feelings from her.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she saw the look there, and recognised it for what it was.

Desire.

She could see it in his eyes. And not just a physical desire either. As she looked at him and he at her, she could see something else behind those eyes, something deep and pure, something meaningful and sacred. The rest of the world disappeared around them, and Sakura could feel electricity in the air which did not come from the lightning. The space around them buzzed and sparked with energy and Sakura had but a moment to wonder if the guests around them could see what they were feeling, before Sasuke moved forward and tenderly pressed his lips to her own.

Sakura felt like her heart would explode. Soft warm lips against lips felt heavenly, his skin soft as suede as his lips grazed against hers. She felt everything in minute detail; his fingers fluttering restlessly against her back as he held her tight, their other hands pressed palm to palm and hot and moist with sweat. His chest rising and falling with every laboured breath against her own, the stubble on his upper lip tickling her skin as he pressed more firmly in to the kiss. The tiniest brush of a tongue against her bottom lip. His nose pressed against hers. His hot breath against her cheek as he exhaled.

Then, after what seemed like a lifetime he pulled away, and breathless now they stared at each other, the kiss making their chests heave with exertion in a way that their energetic dancing had not.

The butterflies had pretty much taken up permanent residence in her stomach now.

And Sakura saw it there again in his eyes.

He desired her.

And she desired him right back.

* * *

The Crowned Prince Kiyoshi Nakashima looked out over the throngs of guests that had come to help him celebrate his twenty-first birthday.

Celebration indeed.

So far it seemed to him that it was everyone _but_ him who was doing the celebrating.

He had spent the past half an hour after the banquet had been cleared away, being introduced to young lady after young lady, and he was absolutely sick of it.

A task that to most young men would be a delight, was to him the bane of his existence. Because, unfortunately, each and every pleasant - and sometimes even attractive - young lady came hand in hand with a superficial, gaudy, and money-hungry mother.

He could not stand it any longer. These women and their daughters were so false it disgusted him. Artificial smiles could not hide the look of disinterest on the girls' faces, or the look of greed on their mother's. Not a single one of them made him want to look twice, and he began to resent his father's brilliant idea of putting on a ball so that his rapidly aging son could find a suitable wife and settle down once and for all.

Except that the ball had also brought _her_.

He scanned the room trying to see her again.

The pink haired beauty that had stolen his breath away.

He gazed out over the masses, scrutinising each face he saw there, trying to pick her distinctive colours out from the cliques and huddles of merry socialites gossiping, or the guests who still sat around their tables, some smoking, some drinking and talking, and some already tired out from the night's many indulgences. But his candy-haired goddess was not amongst them. He turned his sights to scan the crowds that littered the dance floor at his feet.

A twirling flash of green and pink caught his eyes then, and there she was. An exotic vision of beauty that lit up the room brighter than any of the chandeliers or candelabra that filled it, a perfect angelic face that could calm the fiercest storm.

He watched, fascinated as she danced the night away, the joy of the exertion flushed her face, and laughter lit up her emerald green eyes, making her look if possible even more appealing. She was a natural on the dance floor, he could only presume she must have had training as a professional dancer, for her movements were precise and fluid, her balance was impeccable and she carried herself with the control and grace of a swan. She danced spiritedly with her partner, and their youthful energy combined to light up the space around them, attracting many an envious eye in their direction.

The music changed then, and became a gentle swaying tune, and the Prince watched jealously as he saw his mystery girl's partner draw her closer into a tender embrace as they continued to undulate in time to it's beat.

A pang of fierce envy stabbed his heart then like never before, and his eyes stung with bitterness as he watched her companion lean forward and steal a kiss from her bee-stung lips.

That was it. He could not sit back and watch any longer as this beautiful damsel was tasted by anyone other than himself. The young Prince steeled his resolve. He would retire his throne and take to the floor, where he would interrupt the happy couple and take his prize for himself. And she would comply, he was sure of it. He was the Crowned Prince of Kaminari, and not surprisingly the word 'No' was not one that he was accustomed to hearing.

He rose from his throne and proceeded off the stage and down the steps to his right. His man-servant raised his eyebrows at him, a silent question of whether he should call the room to attention or not. The Prince waved him off impatiently and continued on into the horde of revellers, and as he neared each group he heard audible gasps as they stopped mid-dance and stepped back to allow his Highness to pass.

As the multitudes parted like the Red Sea before Moses and the crowd opened up before him he saw her there. The two were the only ones who had not stopped dancing, and they remained embraced in each others arms unaware of the commotion going on around them.

The Prince stopped just shy of the oblivious couple. He reached forward confidently, then tapped Sasuke on the shoulder.

Sasuke pulled away from Sakura, then turned to look at the Prince, leaving a bewildered Sakura looking out and around at the crowds of people stopped on the floor and staring at them.

"May I?" The young Prince announced to Sasuke.

It was not a question.

Speechless and in a daze that was a combination of enamour and confusion, Sasuke stepped back and hesitantly lowered Sakura's hands from his own.

He bowed respectfully to the Prince, then, flabbergasted, retired to his table, where the Brigadier and Captain were seated, silently watching the proceedings on the floor now, along with every other patron in the expansive ballroom.

Sakura watched as Sasuke left her, then turned her face back to the man who had interrupted them.

He stood there before her, a debonair concoction of class and distinction, his ebony hair glossy and perfect under the lights which hung low from the ceiling, a few strands fell into his intoxicatingly blue eyes in just the right places. Those deep pools, as blue as the ocean around an island paradise and sparkling like precious jewels, bored deep into her now, watching her like a predator stalking his prey.

His refined features and perfectly pale skin made him beautiful, like an angel carved out of marble, and Sakura knew that he was everything that most mothers would dream of for their daughters; cultivated and distinguished, affluent and privileged, powerful, charismatic and suave. He bowed deeply and she curtsied in turn, as he reached out and took her hand before imparting it with a dramatised kiss, which got the gossip-mongers that surrounded them stirring in their boots.

His voice resonated deeply through the almost silent, cavernous room. "I am Prince Kiyoshi Nakashima of Kaminari no Kuni."

Sakura smiled politely at such a formal introduction.

"And I am Kumiko Akimoto of Hi no Kuni. It is an honour to meet you, Your Highness." She curtsied again.

"Please," He began as he urged her to rise. "The honour is all mine. When I saw you at the beginning of the evening I could not stop staring at you. You are a very beautiful woman."

Sakura smiled modestly at his confession. "Thank you so much Your Highness, but you are too kind. I am merely your humble servant come to honour your coming of age along with the rest of these fine guests."

The music started up quietly again, and as the eavesdropping guests returned to their previous activities – while still keeping a wary eye on the proceedings at the centre of the dance floor – the music slowly picked up volume, and the party gradually resumed its former pace. The Prince stepped forward and took her into a dance position, and they began to waltz in time to the beat that was now in full swing from the talented band of musicians. He scoffed at her naive description of the party-goers that surrounded them.

"I wish that that were true." He sighed heavily. "But I'm afraid that most of the guests which you see here tonight are only here for the free food, booze and entertainment. And, of course, there are the mothers with their daughters who are hoping to bag themselves a Prince for a son-in-law."

He flashed his perfectly white teeth at her in a charming boyish grin.

"But how can I even look at them," He continued boldly, "When there is a perfect goddess such as yourself in the room?"

"Your Highness . . . I-"

"Please, call me Kiyoshi. I have been watching you all night, and I am fascinated by what I have seen. You are intelligent, charming, graceful, and above all the most stunning creature I have ever laid eyes upon. I have spent a long time envisioning the type of woman I want at my side, as Princess, and eventually Queen of Kaminari, and you, Miss Akimoto, are exactly the woman I have dreamed about."

Sakura forced a sweet smile on her face, to hide the contempt she was beginning to feel for the beautiful but shallow man in front of her.

"It's _Mrs_ Akimoto, Highness." She bowed her head to mask her disdain.

The Prince broke into a devious and conceited smile, flashing his pearly whites yet again, and turning half of the women still watching them to mush.

"That can easily be taken care of." He muttered arrogantly, before saying clearly, "I thought I asked you to call me Kiyoshi."

"That I will not do, Highness. It would be impudent for me to call your Highness by such an informal title in front of your guests. Even at your request."

He laughed - a full-bodied, benevolent sound. "Even now, when you are being impudent by not wanting to be impudent, you delight me! If another had dared deny my request in such a cheeky manner I would be furious, but when it comes from your lips I find it utterly charming."

His face lit up with a broad smile like a child who has gotten his own way, and he swung them more energetically into the dance which was coming to an end. As the last chord played, they turned with the rest of the floor to applaud the musicians, who in response broke into a gentler ballad.

Without request the Prince reached for Sakura once again, this time pulling her firmly to him and forcing them to dance in close proximity.

Sakura was almost bursting at wanting to pop the arrogant son-of-a-bitch in the face.

But she breathed and forced herself to calm down, reminding herself that this man was as close to the Daimyo as she could get, and if she wanted to get information that would help them with their mission, this was the best way to get it.

So she allowed him a few discourtesies.

That was until she felt his hand slide down her back to grasp her satin covered bottom.

* * *

Sasuke sat sullenly at his table and watched.

He watched as the arrogant Prince introduced himself, then effortlessly flowed into a buoyant waltz with all the grace that only a royal could muster.

He watched jealously, as Sakura laughed, and twittered, and smiled, and batted her beautiful eyes at all the right times.

He watched as they danced around the floor, the centre of attention to all who watched, and he took a moment to study her from afar.

He saw again the kanji on her lower back.

Those tiny yet elegant characters on her back fascinated him. The Sakura that he had known would surely never be so daring as to get a tattoo. The black strokes glared back at him as if it were a puzzle he had yet to solve.

Suddenly it dawned on him the importance of its meaning.

Why would she get Hope and Perseverance tattooed on her body as a permanent mark, unless it truly meant something powerful to her?

Because it did mean something to her.

The realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

It was him.

_He_ was the reason why she had marked her flawless skin with these two sentiments.

Hope; for the hope that she held for him, that she had held for him his entire life, the hope that he would wake up and realise that whether or not he fulfilled his promise of vengeance, that she would be waiting for him. Hope, that if he did face his brother in battle he would survive the enormous burden that it would put him under. Hope, that he would return to them, and put their little family of friends back together again. Hope, that someday he would see what had been right in front of him all along. Hope, that she could endure the wait until he did.

And Perseverance. The perseverance to improve, to work on her skills till she was at least the equal, if not better, than her naturally gifted team-mates, so that she could finally hold her head high and prove herself to him. The perseverance to believe in him, even when he had laughed in their faces and told them that he would never get anywhere staying with _them_. The perseverance to keep on believing in him, long after everyone else had given up on him, and thought that he was a lost cause. The perseverance not to give up on him, even after he so callously belittled the pouring out of her heart to him, and left her lost and alone on that bench at the edge of Konoha all those lonely years ago.

Agony clutched his heart, and he felt all at once the shame that he should have felt a long ago. It had taken a long time to catch up to him, but now that it had, he felt like tearing out his eyes lest he should cry a river of remorse.

How could he have time and time again pushed the limits of this perfect woman's endurance? How could he have on so many occasions almost allowed the one thing that was good in his life to slip away from him? Realisation had smacked him in the face like a freight train, and now he could not for the life of him comprehend how he had spent so many years denying the truth.

The truth in it's pure and simplest form.

He needed Sakura.

He was in love with Sakura.

He felt it now flowing through him like a poisonous venom, infecting his very soul. He wanted to run over to her now and declare it to her in front of the whole world – he had in him a lifetime full of pent up feelings and emotions; the circumstances of his childhood had built a dam up against them, and it had only been a matter of time before the rivers burst and overflowed with uncontrollable and erratic passion. He was ready to give her all of those things that she deserved, all of the things that she had relentlessly and unconditionally bestowed upon him, with hope, and perseverance. He wanted to-

He stopped dead.

His eyes had searched her out of their own accord and found their own way across the dance floor to touch upon the object of his desire, but what he saw there was _not_ what he had been expecting, and perhaps in another time and place before this mission it may not have bothered him at all.

But it bothered him now.

What he saw there was another man's hands on _his_ Sakura's body.

In the brief second before his sharingan lit, Sasuke was painfully aware that things were about to get really ugly.

And then he thought no more.

For all he saw was red.

* * *

**A/N:** And there it is. Hope it was worth the wait. I know there's no citrus in there but there will be plenty in the next two chapters so don't worry about that. And I felt that the ball needed an entire chapter of it's own so that I could properly describe the setting and the transition of their relationship.

As always, I would love to know what you think, so please review and let me know.

Thanks again for your support! Next chapter will be along soon (I really mean it – I do!)


	9. Playing with Fire and Lightning

**A/N: No, it is not a figment of your imagination, I am really back, with chapter 9.**

**I will not apologise for the time this has taken to get to you, as I have had several personal reasons for this, not the least of which that I have been fairly ill for the past month or so, but instead I will THANK YOU immensely for your patience and continued support of my writing.**

**For all of the incredible reviews I have received in support of this and my other stories, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Reading each and every one absolutely makes my day, and gives me the much needing encouragement to continue.**

**Yet again, I don't own Naruto, the Naruverse or any of the characters within created by Masashi Kishimoto**

**Now I give you Chapter 9.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Playing with Fire (and Lightning)**

A fraction of a second was all it took.

A fraction of a second and their mission was over.

A fraction of a second, and Sasuke's hands were clamped firmly around the Prince's neck.

He himself wasn't quite sure how he had gotten over there so fast, all he knew was that one minute he was seated at his table having an epiphany, and the next he was flying across the room, eyes blazing red and consumed with the thought of squeezing the very life out of the greasy leech of a Prince who had dared to fondle his property.

The look of shock on the Prince's face was well worth it. His beautiful eyes bulged out of his perfect face and beneath his own thumbs Sasuke revelled in the feeling of his larynx twitching and bobbing as it tried desperately to take purchase on the precious air which it craved. Those azure eyes were now bordered by fine lines of crimson blood forking and snaking towards his irises like lightning and he gaped up at Sasuke with a bizarre combination of pure terror and unadulterated fury as it dawned on him what exactly was happening to him.

Sasuke's grip was unyielding however, and he took delight in the moment when the Prince's face began to turn red all over, followed shortly by a very unnatural shade of purple, as he gasped and kicked and struggled vainly in Sasuke's vice-like hold. Kiyoshi clawed at his attacker's hands and flopped around like a fish out of water. Something frightening snapped inside of Sasuke then, and he could feel himself wanting to throw back his head and laugh maniacally as he saw with great pleasure that the pitiful Prince-pup was no longer beautiful, but now resembled something of an over-ripe plum ready to burst.

Sasuke had no intention of letting go. He didn't think he could even if he wanted to. Which he didn't.

He knew that he shouldn't be behaving this way. He was still sane enough to distinguish right from wrong, to know that he was _seriously_ over-reacting and that he had just completely and utterly failed their mission and quite possibly put himself and Sakura in immense danger. But some part of him just couldn't care less while he felt the power surging through him as he held the Prince's very life in his hands. Literally. He didn't know if it was his newly discovered love for his childhood friend and all of the pent-up emotions he had welling inside him waiting to be explored, or if he had inherited serious psychological problems from both his psychotic older brother and his lengthy association with the sadistic Snake Sannin, but something unfamiliar surged and bubbled inside him, a force that had been dormant all these years and was now exploding forth onto the unsuspecting Prince in a display that was reminiscent of the opening of Pandora's Box.

The Prince's eyes twitched and were only moments away from popping out of his skull, and his pallor had taken on a shade of green to accompany the plum. Those eyes were unseeing now, and they no longer glared at Sasuke but looked blankly up at the ceiling as his life began to ebb away.

This was it. Sasuke was going to murder the Crowned Prince of Kaminari, and bring disastrous consequences to Konoha as a result. He knew it, and yet he could do nothing to stop it. He was a deadly combination of inexorable force and unmatched power, and it would take something similar to an asteroid colliding with the earth to stop him now.

In fact, there was only one thing more important to him right now than taking this man's life.

"**_AARRGGHH!!!!!"_**

Sakura.

Her blood-curdling and agonising scream tore through the cavernous ballroom and straight into Sasuke's pounding heart.

His hands dropped away from the Prince instantly, and as the almost lifeless body of the Royal dropped to the ground with a thud he spun around with a look of pure horror on his face and a million different scenarios running through his mind as he tried to grasp what could have possibly made her make such an excruciating noise. He felt sick to his stomach and sweat had broken out across his brow as he pictured his love, so recently revealed to him; so suddenly taken away because of his stupid reaction to a trivial jealously.

Deep-set crippling fear plagued his eyes as he turned slowly to face what he was sure would be the demise of his one true love, and the end of his life.

What he saw there certainly gave him good reason to fear.

Sakura stood, surrounded by now terrified looking guards recoiled in a semi-circle a few steps back from the screaming kunoichi. Her head was hung and her shoulders and chest were heaving with each laboured breath she took. Her once beautifully sculpted hair now hung dishevelled in front of her face but for a small gap between her bangs where her green eyes were visible, her lips were drawn back and her perfect white teeth exposed in a snarl.

As far as Sasuke could see she was completely unharmed. But it was her eyes, her normally beautiful and captivating eyes that had him more afraid than he had ever been.

Her eyes were practically glowing out from behind her curtain of pink locks; they had cooled to a paler shade of lime, yet this somehow had resulted in making her look even more terrifying, for those eyes were now wide, and blazing and burning with absolute fury and rage.

And they were looking directly at him.

Sasuke gulped as he felt the full force of her anger directed at him. It dawned on him belatedly that while he had been occupied with strangling the life out of the Prince, Sakura had been battling the guards who had rushed to their Royal's aide; there were several swords as well as unmoving or injured bodies strewn about the ground around them. Those that were still standing looked rather terrified, as they looked upon both himself and Sakura with justified trepidation.

The ballroom was now filled with an ominous silence; the only sound distinguishable was Sakura's heavy breathing as her shoulders and chest still heaved with her anger. The rest of the room was dead quiet, as the guests looked on too horrified to utter a sound, and the guards studied the pair in silence, watching and trying to anticipate their next move. With all that had been going on in the middle of the dance floor neither Sasuke nor Sakura noticed that at some stage the Daimyo, his sullen wife, and the rest of his entourage had quietly slipped out the back of the stage.

Suddenly, through the eerie silence came a sound. A steady thrumming noise, like the rhythmic beating of a heart – if that heart was made of metal and steel which clanged together with every beat. All eyes in the ballroom turned warily towards the noise, which seemed to emanate from behind the closed doors which lined the walls of the room.

The sound engulfed them now, washing against the doors and walls in waves, like an ocean crashing against the shore on a stormy day, the cyclic pattern relentless and never ceasing. Guests and hosts alike glanced nervously around the bombarded room as the now vociferous noise rose to a crescendo and drowned out all other sound . . . before suddenly coming to an equally ear-deafening _silence_.

Both Sakura and Sasuke stopped dead, along with the rest of the crowd.

Sakura was astounded to find that she was far more nervous at that silence than she ever was of the previous commotion. Her breathing once again quickened its pace and her pounding heart was about the only thing that she _could_ hear in the menacing silence of the grand room, as she glanced around quickly she could see that those in her immediate area were feeling much the same – her shinobi senses could almost taste the fear and uncertainty in them.

A quick glance in Sasuke's direction confirmed what she had already guessed; he had no better idea of what to do next than she. She was still furious at him, of course – his _stupid_ outburst was sure to have some very serious repercussions, not only for them and their mission, but for their friends and loved ones back in Konoha as well. She had had to scream like that to prevent him from _killing_ the disgusting Prince, for that would have set in motion consequences that they couldn't possibly have imagined.

But even as she felt her anger rising again just thinking about it, she knew that now, was _definitely_ not the time.

All around her the eerie silence still resounded like a heavy blanket of cold, its ice-fingers permeating throughout the room like Death himself. Hundreds of pairs of frightened wide eyes searched frantically for the cause of their fear.

It came with a bang.

In perfect harmonious unison a dozen sturdy doors – some that were obvious, and some camouflaged within neatly concealed panels in the walls of the ballroom itself – burst open with the crack of splitting wood, and literally hundreds of black-clad elite special forces of the Daimyo's guard poured forth into the room like lava from an erupting volcano.

Their movements were timed perfectly with each other, and as they marched into the room with practised and uniformed precision the light metal armour on their torso brushed against their arm and shoulder plates and their leg guards clanged together, and with each stride the source of the rhythmic noise of earlier became apparent.

With so many troops pouring into the little remaining space around the perimeter of the room a lesser army would have struggled to keep organised. But, despite the overcrowded space they shared and limited time they had, these troops were not befuddled. Their flow and organisation were perfect, their ranks filed neatly into structured defences, parallel lines of about four deep lining the walls in uniform clusters, poised and ready for the next move.

It came immediately.

In the blink of an eye the front line of soldiers hurled previously concealed kunai at the pair with deadly precision. In a natural instinctive reaction Sasuke employed his Sharingan to good use avoiding the sharp obstacles, while Sakura merely used the power of her fists to bash them out of their flight path to drop uselessly to the ground around her. Both avoided the meagre initial attack easily. In fact, Sasuke almost sniggered at the joke of using such a lame tactic against two such as them, when he shockingly felt the unmistakeable sensation of a kunai grazing his throat micro-seconds after he had dodged what he believed was the last.

His ego bruised as he contemplated the very thought that he may have miscalculated – but then he saw it.

Seconds after the first line fired, they immediately dropped to their knees. At first Sasuke's overworked senses couldn't understand what on earth they were doing until he noticed the second volley that suddenly flew at him – from the hands of the second line, who were now exposed, and armed and ready. These then hit the deck the second the kunai left their hands leaving the third line free to fire, and so forth. Once all four lines had fired the entire pack stood again and by now the first line were re-armed and ready to start all over again.

And so an endless volley of deadly kunai rained down on the pair, who could do little else but defend, defend, defend.

It was an ingenious attack really. As Sasuke dodged, and ducked, and twisted, and flipped to avoid the silver swarm, he noticed that through the soldiers ranks, outside the doors behind the squads, lower-ranked young soldiers were in a constant flurry as well, passing and refilling buckets of kunai which they slid between the ranks to help replenish the guards' weapons of choice. As long as those boys could keep re-arming them, this attack could go on forever. Sakura's immense strength was already occupied with defending herself from the barrage, and Sasuke was using all of his energies to utilise the Sharingan to its maximum. They were both elite shinobi with vast amounts of stamina and chakra, but even they would eventually burn out. Sasuke faced the facts. They had no way of winning this battle.

He had to think smarter. He had to find a way for he and Sakura to escape the building. But how? All of the exits were being blocked by the Daimyo's guard, and to try to breach their defences would be pure suicide.

He remembered the stage had a secret panel, where the Daimyo and his family had entered, and then hurried out of only moments ago, but what then? They had no idea what was behind that door or how far further into the palace it would take them. The goal was to get out of the palace altogether. And if the Daimyo was out there then there was no doubt that he had an even stronger elite force to guard him.

So how the hell were they going to escape this?? Sasuke's mind was running at a million miles an hour as he frantically tried to brainstorm them up a miracle.

And then it hit him.

The glass wall.

Sasuke could have kicked himself it was so obvious.

Earlier when he had been doing his part in the mission by reconnoitring their surroundings for weaknesses he had noted the giant fragile monstrosity for its possibility as a way _in_.

He had not, however, imagined he would be needing it as a way _out_.

His sharp mind began to form a plan.

* * *

Sakura was exhausted.

She had no idea how long she had been frantically batting kunai aside using only her bare fists and forearms. But more importantly, she had no idea how much longer she would be able to keep this up.

She was a very intelligent woman. She knew this, all of her teachers and superiors at the academy knew this, even the Godaime knew this; knew it well enough to choose her out of all others to become her apprentice. But for once in her life she had no idea how to proceed.

For once in her life she was at a loss.

She could feel her muscles slowly but surely weakening against the immense force of the attack. It was not so much that the attack of the enemy was strong – no, on the contrary their forces were weak and their talent with kunai was amateur at best. If the two elites had encountered a handful of these foe under normal circumstances out in the field they would have dispatched them easily, laughably even.

But here, on their own ground, with the sheer size of their army and their limitless replenishment of supplies, she and Sasuke had no hope.

And with every passing second her strength and resolve wavered.

She could only hope for some kind of miracle to occur before they both perished.

* * *

It was now or never.

Sasuke set his feet firmly in position to brace his body, then used an immense amount of his dwindling chakra to pull his right eye towards the great glass wall, while his left continued to analyse the barrage of kunai as he evaded the attack.

The energy that it took for him to focus on both at once was enormous. Using the Sharingan normally alone used a large amount of chakra, and this was something he had only ever imagined in theory, so he gained back a small glimmer of hope when he found that it was indeed possible. He couldn't afford to waste any more chakra, but if they were going to make this plan of his work it was imperative that he get a closer look at the glass itself.

His right eye worked quickly to focus on the massive sheet of glass, and he was able to analyse the thickness, density and quality of the glass in a mere second, snapping his eye quickly back to the fray to resume his full defence once more.

He had what he needed.

It was exactly as he had thought. The glass was extremely thick, and to make matters worse it was made from a type of glass not easily shattered. It would take more than a simple throw of a stone to bring it down.

Luckily, he had already accounted for this in his plans.

He focused all his attentions on the next volley of sharp kunai, and moving with the speed of a python effortlessly plucked four kunai from the air with a graceful series of movements.

"Cover me!"

Sakura, immensely relieved to doing something other than standing there like a pair of twits delaying the inevitable, quickly followed Sasuke's lead, darting in front of him while still punching kunai left, right, and centre.

The sweat poured down her brow as she loyally defended both her team mate and herself, with no clue as to what was going on behind her till she suddenly saw four kunai let fly from the corner of her eye and slam straight into the glass wall at four points with an ear-splitting _crack_.

Small spider webs of lines made their way but a foot from the impact of the four kunai, leaving nothing but amusing patterns on the glass. The wall itself stood strong and proud.

Feeling the weight of disappointment on her shoulders, Sakura's strength began to wane quickly, as it dawned on her that whatever Sasuke's plan had been, it had indeed failed.

However, as she continued to defend, determined to give her all until the final moment of their impending death, she suddenly felt hot breath at her neck.

"When I say the word, slam the glass with all you've got."

The light returned to Sakura's eyes as the prospect of new hope washed over her. She stood as tall and strong as she had ever before, her chakra bolstered by the will to survive, or, if not, to give it the god damn best try she had ever attempted in her entire life. Both of their futures rested solely on this next moment.

Sasuke meanwhile had been studying the guards' patterns of attack intently. He had managed to calculate that although their volleys were as tightly followed as possible; each line allowing absolute minimal time between each cascade of kunai, they could not prevent the loss of precious seconds between the fourth volley and the first. That perilous time when the entire guard must stand again as one was their one and only weakness, and Sasuke was determined to use that to their own advantage. Those few seconds would be their undoing.

The third volley flooded against their defences, and then the fourth, and then, it was time for action.

Just as the fourth line let fly, Sasuke grasped Sakura and pushed her with all his strength towards the glass.

"**NOW!!!**"

Sakura's instincts kicked in instantly and she used the momentum to push forward and slam her fist into the great glass wall with all of the strength that she could muster, as Sasuke moved with her to defend the oncoming volley.

The noise was simply deafening.

Great shards of wall the size of boulders blew outwards into the garden in an avalanche of glass. The enormous pane; one second a beautiful mirror reflecting the audacious ballroom and its current mayhem, and the next a glistening waterfall of glass, raining down as if from the sky itself. The resulting noise was a symphony of shattering, colliding, bellowing and screaming as the sparkling storm continued to fall, and great billows of powdered glass blew backwards into the ballroom creating white clouds which masked the chaos.

Amidst the anarchy Sakura stood motionless, horrified at the disaster she had just created, when she felt heavy fabric thrown over her and she was whisked into the night by the warm body at her side. Mild shock set in, and she was unable to put two and two together and she was consumed by the hope that nobody had been outside as the great wall fell, as all around them she could still hear giant panes of glass shattering against the stone cobbles and the fountain.

She could feel her body begin to shiver, and as a medic she knew right away what was happening.

She was going into shock.

The warmth appeared instantly at her ear again.

"It's okay. I'm here. You're alright, I've got you." The voice was low, and soothing. Caring even.

Suddenly she felt her feet touch the ground, and a cool blast of air washed over her face. And then, she was back.

She pushed herself forcefully from Sasuke's grip. Her cheeks blushed red as she realised how weak she was being. This was not who she was. She was a strong independent kunoichi and she was damned if she was going to let him rescue her once again. Like he had so many times when they were children.

They were standing on a ledge of the palace about a few feet up from the ground. The palace wall that separated the courtyard from the garden was just to her left. She powered her feet with chakra and lunged at the wall, just managing to catch the edge with her fingers. Using all her might she dragged her body up and over the wall without bothering to check if Sasuke was following. This whole situation was his fault anyway. Now, he could follow her lead.

She felt Sasuke drop smoothly to the ground beside her just as the front doors of the palace burst open and scores of the Daimyo's guard poured out into the courtyard. They could hear orders being shouted in the garden behind them also, and somewhere an order bellowed out across the courtyard.

"CLOSE THE GATES!!!" Both Sasuke and Sakura's eyes snapped up to the source of the order.

There, standing in the centre of the main balcony at the front of the palace was the Crowned Prince Kiyoshi Nakashima, his eyes blazing and still bloodshot, a thick red line of swollen skin and bruising running across his neck from one ear to the other. He looked rabid with fury, and in that instant Sasuke had no doubt that if the two of them were caught the penalty would undoubtedly be torture followed closely by death.

Looking to the enormous wrought iron gates that stood open against the moonlit sky, they saw the guards scurry to close the giant iron monstrosities as swiftly as possible. They dashed towards the gates with unmatched speed, using small amounts of chakra bursts to propel them swiftly across the surface of the courtyard, and flying though the gates just in time to hear them slam closed with a shudder behind them.

They flew into the night as a tortured cry of fury rang out.

* * *

Prince Nakashima was almost blinded by his unbridled anger as he watched the two evade the gate by mere inches.

No matter. They may have eluded him with their wily ways up until now, but he would never admit defeat. He would stop them somehow.

"My crossbow, NOW!" He snarled at the nearest guard.

With the weapon in hand he rested the bow on the balcony ledge in front of him. He smiled as he envisioned his victory. No one had ever escaped his aim with the crossbow. His bolts flew true and deadly accurate. The only thing left was to decide which one to take down.

For him, the answer was simple.

The girl.

As he focused his aim on her through the scope, he could feel his anger turning to excitement. With this one bolt her beauty would be captured for him forever. They would be entwined for eternity as predator and prey, as it was with every kill he had made. This simple bolt would tear her from that insolent boy she had chosen over him, and make her his for all time.

If he could not have her alive then nobody would.

Candy-pink centred in his cross-hairs. His finger tensed against the trigger as he prepared to fire.

* * *

Brigadier Adaru Nishimura had stood by long enough.

As the Prince Nakashima lined up his target it was the final straw for the usually loyal Brigadier. He had been used and ordered about long enough by the Daimyo, and he would be damned if he was going to let this petulant boy-Prince kill his new friends in the name of his burgeoning ego if he could do anything to stop it.

"I've got you now, you treacherous scum!" the maniacal Prince hissed, tensing to fire.

It was now or never.

Just then a foot soldier walked between the Brigadier and the Prince, and Nishimura seized his opportunity. He spun around quickly, elbowing the young guard and knocking him with the full force of his immense weight, straight into the aiming Prince, right at the moment he pulled the trigger.

Both the guard and the Prince toppled sideways, and with a loud _thwack_ the bolt ricocheted off the side of the palace walls and fell lifeless to the courtyard below.

"**Garghhhh!!!**"

The furious Prince spun on the young guard ready to give his death orders.

The Brigadier beat him to it.

"You idiot! How dare you impede the Prince's shot! You will report to my office for severe punishment immediately!"

The youth ran off without a word.

However, it did little to quench the Prince's hunger for revenge as he looked back to beyond the gates to find that the infiltrators had vanished without a trace into the black of night.

He bellowed to the troops below.

"_After them, you imbeciles! And don't come back without their heads!"_

* * *

The sounds of the chaos from behind them were slowly beginning to fade as they drew further away from the Palace.

They were exhausted, yet they both knew it would be long while yet before they would be able to safely stop. The Daimyo would surely send his men out after them. After all, such an insult as attacking his son could surely not go unpunished.

And so they were currently sprinting at full speed back towards the village at Sorakara, where with any luck they could make it through the border before word got to the gate sentries making their escape that much harder. There would be no time now to retrieve their belongings from the inn, they would have to make do with the clothes on their back.

Suddenly a hand darted out from a bush at the side of the road and grasped Sakura firmly by the wrist.

She screamed with surprise.

Captain Kazuma Yoshikuni emerged from the shadows and hastily thrust a large brown cloak into each of their hands.

"They're re-assembling to come after you. It won't be long now, they know this area well and will move quickly through the streets. You must leave the country as quickly as you can if you are to have any hope of escaping them. I will try to mislead them as much as I can but there is only so much I can do. Use these cloaks to blend in with the villagers, it might buy you some time and help you with getting through the border."

Sasuke shook the Captain's hand in thanks.

"Kazuma," Sakura gave him a small peck on the cheek. "We are eternally grateful."

The Captain beamed. "Now, go, and hurry!"

They took off into the night, pulling their cloaks on as they ran.

* * *

They had run for three hours straight.

Exhausted as they were by the time they had managed to slip inconspicuously through the border, there was still no possibility of stopping until they had cleared the mountains, for their rocky terrain provided no shield against following eyes. They had to push on at full speed if they were to make the trees well before dawn.

Sakura could feel her strength waning.

Strangely though, the more her chakra drained out into the silence of the night, the stronger her growing anger was becoming. And as the night wore on, her anger was soon the only thing she could focus on.

The reason they were both out here, fleeing exhausted from their enemy, was because _he_ couldn't control his wild anger and emotions. It seemed he had inherited more of his slithering Senpai's traits than he realised. And what the _hell_ did he attack the Prince for anyway? Was he out of his mind?? His irrational outburst had cost them dearly, that much was for sure. If they even managed to get home alive after all of this she was terrified just thinking about trying to explain this to Tsunade. And it was pretty much the end of Sasuke's career as a Shinobi. For some reason that angered her most of all.

Maybe it was because she and Naruto had fought so hard to get the elders and Tsunade to be lenient with him when he finally returned to them. Naruto- Oh Kami, what was Naruto going to say? He would be so angry at Sasuke. After everything they had done for him, how long it had taken for them to plead his case, and now he would be busted back to the Academy? Her brow furrowed as her anger grew.

As she focused intently on the horizon she saw a great flat area just ahead that glowed luminously in the bathing moonlight, and she suddenly realised they had reached the yellow fields.

Sasuke ran on ahead, keeping up his fervent pace and rushing unchecked through the golden flowers.

Sakura's anger however, had finally got the better of her, and she decided that this was going to end. Now.

She stopped amidst the radiant blooms.

"Stop." She called quietly, knowing that his keen Shinobi ears would pick it up.

He stopped abruptly and spun around.

"We can't stop. We have to keep going, they're following us."

"I want to stop. I'm tired of running."

And she was. But her simple statement had a deeper meaning, and for once, Sasuke thought he read it in her voice.

"We haven't got time for this, Sakura. They're after us, don't you understand?"

"They're nowhere near us and you know it. Focus your chakra, Sasuke, you know as well as I do they're way behind."

"That doesn't mean we should stop! We need to get back to Konoha."

"For what?? So that I can tell Tsunade I failed the mission as Team Leader? So that you can hurry back to the academy with the little kids? We might as well just sit here and rot. Or better still, go back and let them take us. Anything would be better than facing Tsunade."

She still couldn't understand why the night had changed so suddenly and he had flown off the handle and assaulted the Prince like that. The mission had been going so well . . . she had milked plenty of high quality intelligence on the Army and the Daimyo from both the Brigadier and the young Captain, everything was going smoothly, she thought they were both having a wonderful time. They had shared an amazing kiss-

The kiss. Was this what had gotten him in a twist?

The answer dawned on her as Sasuke's answers suddenly became agitated.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? Maybe the Prince would catch up to us and whisk you back off to his castle, so he can dance with you and fondle you some more."

"What??" Her eyes snapped up to him, shocked. "I knew it! This is all because you're jealous!"

"Jealous? What do _I_ have to be jealous about?"

"The Prince! You were jealous when he was dancing with me. Why can't you just admit it?"

"Why can't you just admit that you're pissed because I interrupted the two of you and your little love-fest."

"_Please_, you were the one who nearly lost it while spying on me at the bath-house!"

"You . . . you knew I was watching the whole time didn't you?"

"Yes. You twisted pervert."

"_Me_?? _I'm_ perverted?? Well, excuse me, but _who_ was bathing herself like a Saturday night stripper at the local brothel, _and_ you knew the whole time that I was watching??"

"That doesn't mean you're not a pervert. _And_ stupid. I mean, come on, who the hell washes themselves like that anyway?? You must be stupid if you thought that was normal."

"You just admitted that you purposely displayed yourself to me like a whore to intentionally turn me on . . . and _I'm _the one who's in the wrong??"

"I . . ." Sakura gaped stunned for a second at his cruel choice of words, before finally regaining her composure to drive her argument home. "Look, all of this is just drawing attention away from the fact that you screwed us. We were doing fine until you decided to have a psychotic breakdown and flip out! Now we're completely fucked thanks to you, our mission is void, we've quite possibly just signed the death warrant for all our friends and family, we could _die_ yet trying to get back to Konoha-"

"Oh don't be so dramatic-"

"DRAMATIC?!" Sakura's hands flung up in exasperation, her furious eyes took on a wild quality, and she began to step towards Sasuke forcing him to move backwards to avoid her oncoming wrath. "DRAMATIC?! I'll give you dramatic! You, stupid . . selfish . . . arrogant, chauvinistic, _friend-deserting_, power-hungry, SNAKE -LOVING ASSHOLE!!"

As quickly as she had blurted it out she was already regretting her outburst. The resulting look on Sasuke's face was absolutely priceless, and she couldn't deny that she had secretly desired to tell him what she really thought of him more than once or twice before, and if she had, then this current reaction was exactly what she would have hoped for. But things seemed different now. Her feelings had changed. The instant that those spiteful words left her lips she realised that none of it was true. She may have felt that way about him once but if this disaster of a mission had taught her anything it was that her enigmatic team mate was much deeper and more complex than she ever realised.

She could see the damage was already done however as she watched his face transform with shock and surprise, and so, not wanting to lose face she kept her own expression set with fury and waited in trepidation of his next move.

She could never have been prepared for it.

Sakura's immediate reaction was to run away as he suddenly lunged forward to grasp her. But he was far too quick for her.

He always had been.

Before she even realised what was happening, her face was grasped between firm but elegant fingers, pulling her towards him painlessly, but insistently.

Her mind, hardened through years of close death encounters and survival situations still automatically tried to resist, every muscle sending silent signals of dangers throughout her body.

Until she felt soft lips against her own.

* * *

It was Sasuke's turn to gape stunned as the candy-haired vixen's tirade came to its climax. But as his gaze touched upon every inch of her - her beauty trebled by her vehement fury - from her tangled pink mop and her wild passionate eyes, to her quivering peach lips, and the perfect scarlet flush of her cheeks, he discovered that he couldn't be bothered keeping up the façade of arguing with her any longer. All he wanted to do was to bring her to her own - hopefully equally dramatic - climax.

And so, it was with that thought in mind that Sasuke boldly reached forward and clasped his hands to Sakura's face, pulling her into a mad but passionate kiss that very effectively put an end to the further abuse that was ready to spill from her beautiful mouth.

In less than an instant he felt her surrender to him, her previously tense body turning limp and submissive when subjected to his skilful ministrations. He cradled her delicate head firmly in his hands as he hungrily kissed her bee-stung lips for the second time that night, sweet traces of cherry lip-gloss there making his own lips tingle delightfully.

He pressed his tongue insistently at her lips, begging for entry, which he was swiftly granted. He took his time as her mouth slowly opened for him, running his tongue first from the left corner of her mouth, up and along the full length of her top lip, then following along the bottom in the same manner. Her breath was hot and sweet as it mingled with his own.

Slowly his tongue entered her mouth, and he took his time exploring its tender sweetness. He wanted to taste every inch of her. But his longing had built to breaking point and in his wild, passion-filled haze he was finding it harder and harder to concentrate. He wanted to take his time and savour her, yet his overwhelming desire was quickly building into a frenzy, and he was unsure how much longer he would last before he was overcome by it.

They both dropped to their knees, never breaking their connection as they continued their onslaught of each other. Sasuke placed one hand at the back of her satin covered waist and slowly eased her back onto a soft cushion of gold and green.

Their kiss was fervent and hurried, wild and impassioned. Sasuke was very wary that he didn't want to frighten Sakura with his over-eagerness, but as they pressed their tongues together and insistently and hungrily devoured the other, he knew that she was feeling exactly the same emotions. The tensions that had been slowly building throughout the course of their mission were flooding out of them, and both were overcome with this intense passion, as if they were under some kind of spell.

Sasuke pulled away from her lips and kissed a frenzied trail over her chin and down her silky neck. He had to try to clear his head even slightly before his arousal got the better of him. But it seemed he could not escape her enchantment that easily. Out here in the crisp clean air her scent intoxicated him. He could almost taste the Orange blossom of her perfume as he made his way across her collarbone, nipping every inch of her as if mapping her forever in his mind. As he kissed his way back up her neck and nuzzled his nose beneath her ear, the apple fragrance of her shampoo flooded his senses yet again. The memory of that scent was so strong and he found his mind drawn back to that evening not two nights ago – to the first time he had tasted her delectable flesh.

Indeed, he had already sampled her tender buds and gotten away with it.

What was to stop him now?

* * *

To say that Sakura had been surprised when her surly partner had suddenly transformed into a love-starved Casanova would have been an understatement.

But to say they she wasn't enjoying being ravished by probably the most handsome man she had ever known would have been a big fat lie.

The moment his lips had touched hers she knew that she was doomed. She felt her anger wash away like a retreating Tsunami, making way for the turbulent hormones which overtook her body and turned her instantly to a quivering mess.

The feeling of his soft lips leaving hot open-mouthed kisses all over her décolletage was divine. Her head was spinning with the passionate emotions which overwhelmed her, and she was barely aware of what he was doing as his hands took hold of the straps of her dress and tore them from around her neck .

Her senses came flooding back to her however as she felt him grasp the front of her bindings with his hand between her breasts and jerk the tightly bound bandages forward in two violent but quick tugs, effectively loosening them so they fell slackly around her torso.

Sakura felt her nipples harden with both their exposure to the nights air and to his hungry lust-clouded eyes. He seemed to devour her with his mere sight, and as the moon passed out from behind a cloud and bathed them both again in its blue green glow she saw that he was using his Sharingan.

He paused for a brief moment as he studied her with his kekkei genkai under the pale moonlight.

She looked back up at him, nervously nibbling at her lip as she awaited his next move.

Slowly, almost reverently, he reached forward with both hands and placed them at either side of her face, running his thumbs first over each brow, then dragging them gently down the sides of her face, pausing only to brush a thumb over her swollen lips, then down over her elegant neck and gracefully parting to stroke each side of her collarbone, circling out to her underarms and down around the sides of each breast to come to a rest cupping each soft mound in his strong hands and long fingers.

Her breath left her suddenly, as his thumbs reached up simultaneously to graze over her cherry pebbles, and she felt a rush of blood as all of her sensations suddenly centred on the burning heat between her thighs. As he plucked and rolled each tender bud between his thumb and forefingers her head spun uncontrollably and she felt delusional as the combination of sensations at her breasts and her core threatened to drive her mad with their intensity, and she felt an overwhelming desire to have that thirst quenched as swiftly as possible.

Luckily for her Sasuke seemed to share her haste, for no sooner had he wrapped his lips around one blushing bud and begun his assault of it with his skilful tongue (earning a pleasured gasp from her in the process), than he had also taken to incessantly circling his hands seductively over and around her satin covered hips.

This made the burning at Sakura's core even greater. Every time his hands circled back towards her front and his thumbs grazed at the edges of her clothed groin the tingling heat became almost painful between her legs and she began to rub her thighs together to try to relieve it.

Her breathing was coming in gasps and pants now, and she realised Sasuke's was the same. She was intoxicated on lust, and the fire in her loins was fuelled further as she briefly recalled how many times she had dreamed about this very act with this very man.

Unable to take the longing anymore, her hand moved on its own to rest between her thighs, her fingers pressing against her core. The relief she found was instant, and she began to roll her fingers methodically over the source of the burning, desperate to quell the fire there.

Against her breast she felt Sasuke's lips curl back as he smirked against her chest.

"Anxious, are we?" He sniggered.

He moved away from her breast and grasped her arm and hand away from herself pushing it impatiently to the side.

"I'll take care of that."

Without another word he moved his hands to pull up her dress, his hand running up her calf and then thigh as he dragged the plentiful material up the length of her legs, letting the satin caress her like a silky glove along the way. The yards of fabric pooled at her thighs creating a billowing barrier to the object of his desire.

He frowned.

"We're going to have to do something about this."

Grabbing a handful of satin between each hand he suddenly tore the emerald fabric apart, tearing the material to each side and lifting her legs to fully sever the mountainous skirt off at mid-thigh. Tossing the surplus fabric carelessly aside he grasped the frayed edge of her now short dress to raise it slowly up over her shapely hips and rest it around her waist.

He leaned forward and softly kissed her taut abdomen.

Tracing kisses along the folded edge of the fabric, and then making his way agonisingly slowly down over the soft feminine curve of her stomach, Sakura thought she would explode with anticipation.

When he finally reached the top of her lacy black underwear and pushed the material aside to kiss the top of the soft pink down which was neatly sculpted into a trimmed strip she thought she would cry out with relief, but to her endured agony he pulled away and instead left a lingering wet kiss at either side of the border between her thighs and burning core. She couldn't help but whimper with need then, and infuriatingly she felt and heard him snigger again at her enforced agony, as she blushed furiously at her unintended wantonness.

But suddenly there was no time for shyness and this time she cried out loudly and shamelessly as she felt his hot wet muscle slide along the full length of her core, sending bolts of electricity firing through her veins and making her quiver with the intensity of its sensation.

Never in her life had she felt so out of control.

His skilful tongue slid masterfully between her folds, every stroke eliciting a jolt to her system, and when he moved his attentions higher to circle the little bundle of nerves that seemed to be the source and cause of her anguish her head began to roll around and her legs tautened and slackened uncontrollably. Sakura felt as though she were being tortured with pleasure, and as stars began to form in front of her eyes she realised that her core was flexing incessantly, her muscles desperately trying to grasp hold of some unknown force and pull it in, and she had the overwhelming sensation of feeling incredibly empty.

Natural female instincts took over her now, and she clasped at Sasuke's shoulders and head, pulling him up towards her again, knowing one thing and one thing only – she was going to quench this desire, now.

As soon as he was level with her again she wrapped her legs in a vice-like grip around his hips and thrust her tongue back into his mouth, the taste of herself on his lips surprisingly attractive - musky and heady.

He kissed her back as hungrily and fervently as she, then slowly pulled back to sit kneeling once again. He grasped the collar of his shirt and tore it open – she hadn't even been aware that at some point in their passionate embrace they had both shed their heavy cloaks – the buttons giving way easily to reveal his sculpted torso. Sakura eyed him hungrily as he shed his cotton shirt and then moved to undo his belt, fumbling with his over eagerness. Brazenly she batted his hands aside and masterfully removed the offending item herself, pulling it slowly and seductively out from his belt loops and then snapping it aside like the crack of a whip.

Her fingers played teasingly at his buttons, till the torture was too great for even she to bear, and she impatiently tore them open and slid both the pants and his boxers down in one tug to release the object of her desire.

His manhood sprung free and protruded proudly into the night air.

Sakura tried not to gasp as she studied him greedily, the insatiable burning in her core almost painful as her eyes devoured the cure to her torture. As a medic, of course she had seen every form of the male anatomy, but none had sparked the heat within her as his was right now. He was certainly not the largest she had seen, yet his length and girth were still a sight to behold, and her doubts and insecurities threatened to emerge as she inwardly questioned whether the act they were about to embark on would be physically painful for her.

Luckily, Sasuke took over control, and eased back to lie atop of her yet again, shielding the object of doubt from her eyes, and soon all she could concentrate on was his lips and his tongue against hers once more.

As their kisses grew in passion and intensity, she felt that burning rise within in her yet again, and soon all she could feel was that emptiness. She began to press her core against him, rubbing herself in a circular motion against his rock hard desire. He grasped himself in his hand and pulled back slightly to roll his sensitive tip against her aching mound, but this only served to further prolong her agony.

She decided she couldn't take it any longer. She must have him now.

"Sasuke, _please_," she whimpered.

Her insecurities returned as she shyly whispered her request.

"I want you inside me."

She had thought he would smirk at that. But on the contrary he looked as eager as she, and he simply looked into her eyes as he pulled aside her panties once again, this time pressing the burning tip of his arousal towards the entrance of her core.

In that tiny moment before their skin made contact and they both looked deeply into each other's eyes, Sakura saw something in Sasuke's face that she could not describe.

There were many things there that she had rarely, if ever, seen on him of course; his scarlet-flushed cheeks, the sweat across his brow, the breathless and almost winded way in which he was breathing, not the least of which was the heavy haze of lust which clouded his eyes – but there was something else there too. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

It was something in his eyes. Those ebony orbs that had seen so much in their lifetime.

So much anger, so much rejection, so much hate . . . so much misery.

And yet, in spite of all of those emotional scars which had shaped him into the ruthless killer he was, Sakura had to stop herself from gasping aloud as the moon's radiance suddenly bathed them with a shaft of light more intensely than before, as in that instant she saw it.

Naivety. Uncertainty.

_Vulnerability_.

For that brief second she saw in him the child again. That carefree boy that he had been, before his brother had torn his very existence to shreds, and taken away everything that he had ever loved. _That_ boy wanted to be needed. _That_ boy craved affection, and approval. _That_ boy desperately wanted to be loved.

And she found herself desperately wanting to be the one who could give him those things.

She drew her breath in anticipation, and she saw him do the same. Then he pressed forward, and finally she felt that feeling of emptiness subside as he pushed his full length inside her.

They lay there like that for a moment, each catching their breath and getting used to the feeling of being connected so intimately to another.

Sakura was in pure heaven. His girth had stretched her deliciously, and that empty feeling was banished from her mind as he slowly began to move his length within her. If there was any pain, Sakura could not have felt it, as her extreme exhaustion seemed to have left room enough for only one sensation.

Pleasure.

He moved within her, slowly at first, but as their lips instinctively found each other's and they began to fall into frenzied passion again, his movements picked up pace rapidly. It seemed as if the culmination of the past few days tensions, the overwhelming grandeur they had discovered in Kaminari, the adrenaline of their earlier battle, and now the thrill of engaging in such an act while on the run from a bloodthirsty elite army, had cast them both into a frenzy, and they were both of them feeding off the other's hysteria.

His long, slender fingers kneaded pleadingly in the flesh of her back, his strong forearms pressing her to him. She couldn't stop the noises which flooded out of her, strange little mewls and groans and squeaks of pleasure which sounded so funny to her that she almost broke out laughing. Sasuke didn't seem to mind though – he was far too busy with amusements of his own.

The feeling of finally being connected with her was incredible. Her silky cavern was like a vice around him, his body shuddering uncontrollably as every nerve ending in his body sparked, sending overwhelming messages of pleasure to his brain. He felt high and drunk at the same time, and he knew that if human beings really did give off pheromones he was having one massive overdose right about now.

He had never felt so singularly focused on something in all his life. Here he was, an elite Shinobi who was probably future Sannin, who most likely at this very moment had an entire army scouring the countryside with the intent of putting his head on a pole, and his senses were currently not capable of detecting a single thing in this world other than her.

He could not look at anything other than her. He could not hear, smell, taste, touch or even think about anything other than her. For the one and only time ever in his life, someone was more important to Sasuke than himself.

And he knew then that he would die for her.

Sakura, meanwhile was beginning to feel something changing. The heat that filled her abdomen had begun to burn more fiercely than ever. She felt as if she had a giant spring, twisting in her gut, and it was tightening with every thrust of her lover above her, like a snake coiling for attack.

The pressure was so intense Sakura thought she might cry out. Her legs were flailing again, her body tensing as a great weight built up against her stomach, the coil taut and ready to snap at any moment, her breathing coming in great gasps so loud they drowned her ears to any other sound but for the masculine noises she heard faintly in the background, and she realised that Sasuke was grunting amidst his own passion above her.

His face had contorted into to one of such pleasure that it almost seemed as though he were in pain. Yet as she looked on him at that blissful moment before she was thrown over the edge of reality, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked down on her with such a look of awe and wonderment that the emotions flooding her senses were too much to take.

With a final thrust the beautiful raven–haired man above her lost his control and released his essence within her.

The look of raw unbridled pleasure that flooded his face, and his hot seed which filled her body was the final straw for Sakura. Every muscle in her body tensed to their limit as the coil snapped inside of her, and her abdomen was instantly bombarded with a myriad of delicious explosions, her head spinning out of control as stars shot incessantly across her vision and the breath was knocked clean out of her, and for several moments she was lost in delirium.

Her heart pounded in her chest and her ears rang as she plummeted from reality. She felt as if she were falling down a bottomless well, her body weightless as she spiralled into its ebony depths.

Slowly her descent faded, and as the explosions subsided and her muscles began to gradually relax, a wave of the most intense peacefulness she had ever felt in her life began to wash over her.

She lay there, breathing heavily and staring up at the stars as she slowly regained a sense of consciousness. Next to her she could hear Sasuke breathing heavily also, and when she had finally managed to catch her breath and gather the smallest amount of energy to be able to move, she rolled to her side to finding him already staring at her.

They lay there like that for what seemed like eternity, just looking at each other under the starlit night as their chests heaved with breathlessness.

Their mission, the chase, the rapidly encroaching enemy, and the consequences of all that had just happened and certainly what was yet to happen were all forgotten as they lay there, quietly basking in the glory of their act of love.

For once, Sakura felt truly content as she lay there looking at her beautiful lover, half naked and Adonis-like in the blue-green hue of the moon.

And when she felt his slender fingers lace with hers, and he pulled her to his chest to lay entwined and soaked in their own sweat amidst the breathtaking scenery of the lemon fields under the sparkling indigo sky, she felt the heaviness of slumber begin to take hold of her.

And as they both began to drift into the nothingness of sleep, Sakura couldn't imagine any place she would rather be.

* * *

Consumed by their exhaustion, neither of them sensed the steady pulse of energy emitting silently and menacingly from the rapidly approaching enemy.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there you have it. I finally delivered the lemon. XP**

**I would be really keen for some feedback on this chapter, as it is one of the first lemons I have ever written and I'm still not too sure about it!**

**Thanks again with your patience in waiting for this chapter, and there is now only one big chapter to go, possibly two if I chop it in half which I may decide to do yet.**

**Big love to you all and I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Let me know what you think!! XD**


	10. Dreams, Urban Legends & A Brown Blob

**A/N: Hi guys. Yep, I am still here... ;)**

**Oh, and just a reminder for the last few chapters. I just wanted to remind you that this is a Romance/Comedy, and as a comedy it is not meant to be taken seriously. Some of the characters may do some non-canonical things from time to time, but that's exactly how I intended it to be. ;)**

**I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Dreams, Urban Legends & A Brown Blob**

Surely he was in heaven.

The sensation of soft sweet lips against his own combined with the intense heat of the body pressed firmly against him was breathtaking. Limbs moved and bumped against one another, sliding smoothly against their mingling sweat, his every nerve ending tingling and sparking with lust and raw desire.

His mouth tasted as if it were full of roses, the tongue which entered between his lips was sugar-sweet, and although he had never had a sweet tooth, he was beginning to understand what it felt like to have one. He could have tasted that sweet flavour for the rest of eternity.

The gentle lips of velvet moved lower to caress against his throat and chest and he instinctively grasped hold of a lock of silken hair and brought it to his nose to inhale its intoxicating scent.

The hair was pink.

Finally she looked up at him and smiled, her features just as beautiful as he remembered; that day that he had first seen her when he had walked through those gates of Konoha again, finally ready to pursue the life that should have always been his.

If it hadn't been for that one night. That one night so long ago that had altered his destiny.

If it hadn't been for that night perhaps she could have been his long before now.

_Sakura._

But perhaps fate didn't work that way.

Perhaps this _had_ been his destiny all along.

Perhaps they both had to experience hell before they could truly appreciate heaven.

Her smile was so gentle, so loving, so forgiving of his many mistakes and rejections. She reached up and tenderly stroked her fingers down the side of his cheek and over his lips. She smiled again, and this time opened her mouth to speak.

"_Sasuke!"_

Sasuke frowned at the odd way in which her tone completely mismatched her features.

He brushed it off however, as her smile widened, and she reached forward to brush a wayward strand of ebony hair away from his face. As she did her mouth opened to speak again.

"_Sasuke!!"_

His brow knitted together again, deeper this time, and he began to feel extremely uneasy.

Something was definitely not right here.

The picturesque vixen before him simply giggled, then looked coyly up at him through thick black lashes, the faintest blush staining her porcelain cheeks. She moved herself gracefully into a crouching position, and then crawled herself towards him and up over his legs on all fours. She stopped a mere few inches from his face, then moved her lips to speak again.

"_**SASUKE!!!"**_

Suddenly the vixen's face began to wobble. Her ethereal pastel beauty began to shimmer before his very eyes like the horizon through a heat wave, and even before she began to slip away into the encroaching blackness of the night he now found himself in, he knew it had only been a dream.

What he didn't expect however, was that in the very place in which Sakura's face had been in his dream, another Sakura came into focus.

But this one was downright frightening.

Hair that appeared purple in the blue wash of the moon flew wild around her face like the snakes of Medusa, her porcelain skin was marred by thick smudges of dirt and stains of grass . . . but her eyes looked emerald and stunning in the moonlight – in harsh comparison to the panda-esque smudged lines surrounding them, and the strokes of mascara which had smeared down one cheek.

Sasuke couldn't help the small beginnings of a smile which niggled at one corner of his mouth.

It quickly disappeared however, as his mind finally took in her expression of frantic distress.

"Sasuke! What the hell are you smiling about? We have to move, damn it!"

At first his foggy, post-coital brain struggled to understand what she was on about, so relaxed had he been amid this sudden feeling of release and freedom from his old prison of repressed emotion that he had all but forgotten what they both were _actually_ doing out here amid the flowers in a foreign land, but a sudden faint cry in the darkness brought him crashing back to reality.

"_Move quickly men! I want every rock upturned, and every plant stripped of its leaves until we find those bastards!"_

They both froze dead, breath held in their throats as each silently calculated the distance of their enemy. Impossibly, Sakura's face paled even further as she turned to face her team mate. There was no mistaking the urgency in her eyes now.

"MOVE."

They reacted instantly, plummeting in a strange crouching sprint through the field, concerned only with the thought of getting to the tree line before their followers made it into the clearing and were alerted to their presence. Which was currently fairly obvious due to the flower heads which were flying every which way by the two bodies which hurtled through them like a freight train.

Inwardly, Sasuke scolded his ignorance. What the hell were they thinking?? This was quite possibly the stupidest mistake he had ever made in his life, and Sasuke was _not_ accustomed to making mistakes. The funny thing though, was that he wasn't so angry at himself for having chosen the most inappropriate time to make love to his beautiful team-mate, but that he had chosen the most inappropriate _place_. A _clearing_ for Kami's sake?? If he had at least waited till they had passed through the crevasse in the rock formation and into the forest beyond they could have been sitting pretty now, using the ample cover of their native playground to hide and prepare an ambush. Apparently though his brain didn't work quite so well when it was juiced up on male hormones. He would have to remember that for future reference.

There was no time to regret however, as Sakura was currently setting a cracking pace, and the trees were now only a few feet away.

The trees were their only option really. It was unfortunate that they were too far away from the cliffs up ahead – Sasuke had hoped that they would be able to take that same route home, as it would have saved them _so_ much time, and allowed them to cross over into Fire within fifteen minutes or so – but they had made a ridiculous error, and now they would be forced to travel the long way home.

They dove over the line of bushes which marked the edge of the forest just in time. Sasuke immediately spun around, his presence masked by the thick growth of foliage, to peer through a gap in the bushes just as the squadron flowed into the clearing.

He scanned the ranks swiftly with his Sharingan, doing a quick count of their numbers.

_Hn_. There were more than he had expected, and if they did have to cross swords with these guys it would be a tough fight. Not _impossible_, but it would certainly be better for all concerned if they could continue to evade them. He watched as the squad's Sergeant barked an inaudible order to his troops, and they suddenly broke off into small groups, slowly scrutinising the flower field in a methodical sort of emu parade.

Sasuke had a feeling that once he and Sakura crossed back into Fire Country the Daimyo's army would be forced to abandon their hunt, for no country was very welcoming to foreign troops running around trying to kill its native citizens. He mentally calculated their approximate distance from the edge of Fire. At this speed they could probably make it in another hour. _Not far now_. If they could just-

"Sasuke."

He was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts when Sakura called his name in a soft voice that was barely audible. He snapped his head towards her, slightly panicked at what he might find.

But he couldn't see her. His brow knitted in confusion and his eyes darted around the area, when her usually conspicuous hair was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until he impatiently flashed his Sharingan on again and was almost stunned by the two glowing green orbs hovering in the centre of his vision that he realised that she had been right in front of him all along.

She was supine on the ground, just laying there . . . in the middle of a mini swamp of pure, thick, brown sludge.

She was covered in mud from head to toe. Her clothes and hair were saturated and dripping with the coffee coloured paste. Not an inch of her usually porcelain skin remained. Only her stunning jewel-like eyes shone out from what was otherwise a slimy brown blob.

And it appeared that the brown blob was stuck.

It seemed that the smoothness of the satin material which covered her rear and the force with which she had plopped into the shallow yet thick mud had caused a sort of vacuum effect, and the more fiercely that the determined kunoichi struggled, the more persistent was the mud's grip.

Sasuke tried hard not to laugh at the ridiculous situation she was in. He really couldn't blame the mud. It _was_ a beautiful backside after all.

She thrust her hand petulantly into the air and threw him a murderous look. Her eyes held a pretty clear warning that if he made fun of her in any way, he was a dead man.

He moved silently and dutifully to help her, grasping her by the hand and joining the struggle to separate her from the possessive swamp.

Sasuke shook his head incredulously.

Here she was, the second strongest kunoichi (and most probably the second strongest _shinobi_) in all of Konoha, almost defeated by no less than a mud puddle.

Finally she began to shift – he had managed to hook one foot behind her thighs and get enough leverage that the mini-swamp was forced to relent – and she was spat out with an ungracious plop onto the firmer forest floor.

Sasuke couldn't believe how well he was controlling his emotions as she struggled to her feet looking like something out of a B-grade horror movie. That damn smirk just kept wanting to return to his face, but he was determined not to let it. It was hard for him too. It seemed that she was incredibly adorable when she was angry.

Her petulance was back again. She raised her head high and lifted her hand to flick a thickly clogged clump of hair back over her shoulder, and then turned and stalked out into the forest.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, snorting in amusement, before running into the forest after her.

_Almost home._

**

* * *

**

The seasoned sergeant strode restlessly back and forth in front of his waiting troops, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts.

He was furious at the discovery they had made, that was certain, but overriding his fury was fear at the possibility that it was now more likely than ever that he would fail his task, and it would be his head that the Prince would be demanding on a pole next.

He shook his head, trying to forcefully pry both unhelpful emotions from his mind as he desperately tried to formulate their next plan of attack. It was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on anything however, with the strange noises from behind him which seemed to be rapidly increasing in volume.

He spun around.

His squadron stood relaxed, out of formation, and most were snickering, grinning and whispering, even murmuring excitedly. All were looking in the same direction.

"STAND AT ATTENTION, NOW!"

At their sergeant's furious bellow they moved like the wind, quickly falling back in to their assigned formations and freezing there, deadly still and silent.

_Much better._

The sergeant turned back to the cause of the ruckus.

There before him, in the centre of the field of flowers which they were currently standing in, was a small area of flattened flora. Most of the stalks had been broken off, and the flowers were destroyed, most having been smashed into the ground by the weight that had clearly been lying on top. The entire area was quite a mess, and had the sergeant not been aware of whom had caused this, he would have presumed that a rather fearsome fight had taken place here.

But they did know who had caused it, and it was quite obvious to all what had gone on here.

Still furious and incredulous that they had been so far behind that their targets had been able to all but have a –ahem- _sleep_ in the flowers; the sergeant scoured the area, hoping that something would miraculously jump out to aid him in his rapidly failing quest.

As his eyes brushed over the broken stalks again, just then the moon peeked out from behind a cloud and threw its light upon something, which reflected it like a sheet of glass, or the surface of the sea.

At first he thought it may have been a puddle of water, but as he approached he could see that whatever it was it had folds, and texture, and appeared to be the same colour as the stalks themselves. He hooked it on the tip of his sword and raised it high so he could study it better.

It was a torn sheet of emerald satin.

The sergeant grinned. It appeared Kami was on his side after all.

"Bring up the dogs!"

**

* * *

**

Sasuke relished the feeling of the cool wind against his face. It kept his long bangs conveniently out of his eyes and dried the tendrils of sweat which trickled down the sides of his cheeks. His lungs were burning with every breath and his every muscle seemed to be screaming at him to stop.

But stop he could not. Every step he took, every thrust of a chakra-powered foot against a helpful tree branch brought him that little bit closer to Fire, and freedom.

He couldn't even spare a thought for their bungled mission, or his inevitable demotion upon his return. His thoughts were focused solely on getting the two of them back into the safety of first, Fire, and then into the protection of Konoha. It was ironic, in a way, how quickly his priorities had changed. Once, and not so long ago, he would have thrown caution to the wind, turned and faced his pursuers and fought the lot of them with everything he had, confident enough in his own abilities to be certain of the outcome.

But now, in a rather startling moment of self-awareness he discovered that he could no longer think this way. For starters, and most importantly, he _could not_ put Sakura in that kind of danger. Yes, he knew that she was perfectly capable of looking after herself, as was he, but the fact remained that every moment longer that they spent so close to the enemy was another moment in which things could go horribly wrong. Now that he had realised the intensity of his feelings for Sakura there was no way he was willing to take that kind of risk.

Secondly, and rather disturbingly for him, he had begun to feel something that he had never felt before, or certainly not for a long, long time.

He _wanted_ to return to Konoha. He belonged there. It was his home. He didn't know when it had happened, but somehow over the past six months that simple and humble little village had managed to claw its way into his heart. That place and its people had become precious to him. The most ironic thing of all was that he had finally killed his brother, the only other remaining Uchiha, and yet he now felt like he had more family than he had _ever_ had. Naruto and Kakashi were his brothers now, and even old Lady Tsunade was in a twisted kind of way like a surrogate mother to him. All be it a filthy tempered and sometimes ludicrously drunk one, but he could still see she genuinely wanted him to succeed. Sakura, well . . . she certainly couldn't be called a sister to him _now_ . . . but there was the possibility she could be something else once they returned home and put this mission well behind them . . .

Sasuke was so lost in his thoughts that a loud _crack_ beneath him was the first indication that he had chosen his footing poorly, and he had barely enough time to use chakra to propel himself to a stronger branch before the small one he had broken fell unceremoniously to the forest floor with a crash.

He forced himself to focus on the task at hand and increased his speed. It would not do for him to make another mistake.

Up ahead a brown blob pushed on through the trees at a breakneck pace.

He watched her back as her path took her higher into the treetops, the smaller trees below becoming increasingly flimsy and unstable, not safe for travelling through at the speeds they were. He followed her steps, and soon they found themselves nearing the tops of the highest trees in the forest, in fact, they were so high that they rose up above the tree-line, and soon Sasuke was able to look down upon the ceiling of the forest at the tops of all the other trees below, blanketed across the countryside like an undulating sea of green.

He glanced around in awe at the beautiful sight, the viridian sea seemed to flow for miles in either direction, but when he turned back to follow Sakura's path through the trees he noticed that the same was not true up ahead. Less than a mile ahead of them the forest stopped abruptly, where a grey expanse of stone and cliffs rose into the skyline.

_Hn._ Sasuke didn't like the look of this at all. Their flight through the trees had allowed them some advantage against their enemy, and they had no doubt made up some ground, but soon it looked like they would be forced to travel on foot. And, up against those to whom this kind of terrain was their forte, they could very easily find themselves in trouble.

Sasuke lowered his head and doubled his speed, hoping they could put plenty of distance between themselves and their enemy before the forest came to an end.

He could only pray that their enemy lost their trail long before that.

**

* * *

**

The dogs snarled and pulled frantically at their lead as they caught the enemy's scent for a moment, before suddenly turning their nose and darting confidently in the opposite direction. They would repeat this pattern, and then stop altogether, whining up at their masters.

"What is it?" The sergeant moved through the ranks and bellowed to the one of the dog handlers that led the squadron. "What's wrong, why have we stopped?"

"The dogs are having trouble picking up the scent, Sergeant." He looked back at his dog, who whined and changed direction again. "They've definitely been here, but . . . I don't know Sarge. Something's confusing them."

The Sergeant impatiently pulled a map from his fatigues. "From the course we've been taking, it seems like they're hoping to cross the border into Fire. The bastards know we won't follow them once they cross the border." He scratched his chin and looked up at the fairly well-worn path through the trees ahead. "It's imperative that we stop them before they get to that border, damn it. Let's just keep following this path through the forest for now."

They were about to proceed when a voice called through the ranks.

"Sir! Over here!"

"I think we've found something, Sergeant!"

He hurried over to the side of a young Lance Corporal and a couple of Privates who were currently looking at the ground before them.

He crouched down next to them.

"It's a freshly broken branch, Sarge."

A private who looked far too young handed a newly snapped branch to the Sergeant. He turned it in his hands, taking in the tearing of the fresh green flesh inside and how sticky, oily sap still dripped from the hanging, outer bark to the carpet of leaves and twigs below.

"It could have been an animal . . ." the Lance Corporal offered.

"Yes, Lance Corporal Shiroi," the Sergeant began as he slowly stood up. "Yes, it could have been an animal."

He looked up into the treetops above.

"But it wasn't."

He pulled out his map again. He noticed the shaded area that marked the Kage no Tanima, or Valley of the Shadow.

"They're in the trees," he announced to his Corporal, who had come to stand behind him. "But they'll be forced to ground once they get to the Valley of the Shadow. That may be our only chance. The terrain is treacherous, and it will slow them down. If we can catch up to them we can let the dogs on them."

He looked back at the Corporal.

"Alert the dog handlers to be ready."

"Sarge." He bowed curtly and hurried off.

The Sergeant looked back at his map.

Soon those enemy spies would be in his custody, and the Daimyo would finally recognise his worth in the Army.

He smiled to himself as he remembered that old children's fable. _The hare became too complacent . . . and now the tortoise will win the race._

If this was their last chance he was going to give it all that they had.

He would _not_ let them get away this time.

**

* * *

**

Sakura stood still on a high tree branch as she waited for Sasuke to catch up. Ahead of her lay a vast expanse of grey-blue stone, and a long curving valley cut through the rock like a deep black scar. No light reached the floor of the valley, not the light of the moon which bathed the cliffs above in an eerie blue hue, and the stars were too dim to reach its cold lifeless depths. Sakura stood on the very last tree at the edge of the forest. At the foot of its trunk the mossy ground gave way flowing quickly down forming a natural path which lead straight into the shadow cloaked valley.

A _thud_ next to her announced her partner's arrival.

He was breathing heavily, as was she. The air was cooler here, so close to Fire. The humidity they had felt so strongly further into Lightning had all but disappeared, and the crisp winds felt glorious against her burning face.

"We'll have to be cautious."

He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Hm." She continued to study the rocky obstacle course before them. "But we also need to keep our advantage." She stretched her arms and legs a little as she contemplated their best tactic. "Looks like visibility is poorest near the base of the cliffs on the right hand side. Let's stick to the dense shadows on that side for now and just get through this as quickly as we can, yeah?"

"Hn." That made Sakura's lip curl upwards slightly. It seemed he was quickly returning to his usual self.

She moved to jump down to the moss covered floor. They couldn't afford to linger here any longer.

Sasuke jumped after her a half a second later. He would have liked to have seen her hair flow out behind her in silken lavender waves as she flew effortlessly towards the ground from the top of the mammoth tree they had been surveying from. He thought that it would have been quite a breath-taking sight. Unfortunately her hair was still glued to her shoulders by the thick mud that she remained irreversibly drenched in. The only thing that flowed out behind her in waves were millions of flecks of slimy dirt. He stuck his tongue out in mild disgust as he wiped some brown splatter from his face.

They touched down lightly and immediately sprint-slid down the steep bank towards the valley.

As Sakura ran she could see the vast expanse of the shadowed valley rising like a giant black hole before them. She shivered a little, but didn't know why. She was thankful Sasuke couldn't see the goose bumps she could feel rising on her arms beneath the mud.

She paused only briefly before she stepped across the line of moonlight which separated them from the darkness.

And as she crossed the barrier between light and dark, a long cold shiver down her spine told her that, quite possibly, their troubles were only just beginning.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke's Sharingan-lit eyes darted all about them restlessly. His hands clenched and relaxed again and again as they moved slowly through the near pitch black of the dense shadow. He found the lack of any kind of sound in this strange place very unnerving. It just wasn't natural for any place on earth to be _this_ quiet.

Ok, so it wasn't _completely_ silent. Next to him he could hear the quick pace of Sakura's breathing as she reacted even more extremely to the blackout than he, due to her all too 'human' ocular abilities.

In fact, it had only just now dawned on him how blind she must feel, and how selfish he had been not to recognise this. He reached out and lightly grasped her hand, feeling her jump slightly at the sudden unexpected contact. And she must have been more anxious than she would ever let on, because she squeezed his hand tightly and allowed him to place it on his shoulder and lead her through the darkness without even the slightest protest of her own capability.

He could see with adequate enough vision the labyrinth of rocks and boulders laid out for what seemed like an eternity before them. If he had stopped to think about it, he was sure it would have seemed hopeless to him; the exhausted almost-blind leading the exhausted blind through a maze of jagged obstacles with a blood-thirsty army hot on their heels. Which is why he was certainly not going to pause for even a second and let his thoughts overwhelm him completely. He kept his head high, and his eyes as alert as his tired brain would allow, and he moved through the rocks slowly and carefully, but with a confident defiance. They _would_ get through this somehow, and after the mistakes that he had already made this evening he was determined that he would be the one to pull them through it. Even though his Sharingan afforded him some semblance of vision stronger than the average person in his situation, he still kept his eyes focused intently on trying to make sense of the shapes and paths before him. And one thing that was helping him focus immensely right now, was mentally repeating his mantra over and over again.

_I am not afraid of the dark. I am not afraid of the dark._

_I am _not_ afraid of the dark._

**

* * *

**

"We can't go in _there_, Sergeant."

The Sergeant's eyes widened with shock.

"What the hell do you mean you can't go in there! I'm giving you an order!"

A young Private in the front row glanced around pleading at his colleagues before turning resignedly back to his superior and stepping forward a little.

"Haven't . . . haven't you heard the stories, Sergeant?" he began timidly. "They say there's a curse on that place. Many a folk went in . . . never came back out. Went mad in there they says . . ." His description embellished as he gained confidence in his Sergeant's silence. "When I was a kid a man from our province used to tell us how he was trapped in there once for five days. He said there were evil spirits in there that were trying to kill him . . . said they made him see stuff from inside his mind, like, stuff no one else knew about . . . you know, like ghosts from his past and stuff. Said it nearly drove him mad."

The men all began to murmur quietly amongst themselves, no doubt regaling each other with their own anecdotes on the cursed valley.

The Sergeant rubbed wearily at his temple with one hand. He couldn't believe this was happening _now_. Every second wasted here was another second their targets had to escape.

The Sergeant took a deep calming breath. "Listen to me very carefully." The murmuring ceased abruptly. "Do you not remember the vows you all took when you pledged allegiance to king and country? When the Daimyo issues an order, you _must_ obey, or risk being shot for insubordination. When a superior gives you an order, it has come through a chain of command directly from the Daimyo himself, and therefore it is also an offence against the crown to refuse, and is punishable by death." He looked around furiously. "I could have you all shot right now!"

A hundred heads looked back and forth between their superior and each other.

"Get in there!" The sergeant now all but screamed. "That's a _direct order_!"

The men just continued to look anxiously between their leader, the ominous valley before them, and each other. Apparently their fear of the alleged spirits of the valley was far greater than the fear of their Sergeant's wrath.

Their Sergeant's wild eyes and flared nostrils indicated his disbelief over their blatant mutiny. Well, they may have been willing to risk his head because of a stupid urban legend, but he sure as hell wasn't.

"Thank Kami the dogs aren't superstitious then!" he bellowed.

A dog handler stood slightly forward from the front of the unit. The Sergeant marched over to him while withdrawing his sword, and as he stopped before the dog-handler and raised his sword high in the air the poor boy squeezed his eyes shut and cowered back, whimpering.

The loud slicing of the sword could be heard, not through flesh, but through the leather straps which were tethered to the three dog's collars. The frightened handler opened his eyes just in time to see the Sergeant wave the green satin scrap in front of their noses before they took off barking into the black abyss.

With one last disgusted glance at his men, the Sergeant crossed into the darkness and took off after them.

He was going to catch those bastards and drag them before the Daimyo one way or another.

And no bullshit ghost story was going to stop him.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I know it's short, but I thought you had all waited long enough for an update so I cut the chapter in half. And yeah, I know there's no citrus in there, but some of it does have to actually be storyline. I don't really do pwp, so if that's what you're after, don't look for it here...**

**On the bright side though, this story is turning out to be much longer than I originally thought, and will now be about 13 - 14 chappies long... :D**

**See you soon... hopefully XD**


	11. Nightmare of Dead Siblings & Monsters

**All I can say is, sorry guys. I lost my mojo for a while. But I think I've found it again...**

**Oh, and I don't own Naruto characters or world, etc. etc.**

* * *

**The Nightmare of Dead Siblings & Monsters**

Sergeant Takeshi Kudo was a bit of an oddity.

Having pulled his flashlight from his fatigues and flicking it on before entering the ebony cloaked abyss which was the Valley of the Shadow, he now turned it off, and threw it unceremoniously away into the blackness that surrounded him. He would not be needing it, and, quite frankly it was more of a hindrance to him than anything.

He would not be needing it, because he could see far better without it.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again to reveal two yellow glowing orbs.

Because . . . Takeshi Kudo had a Kekkei Genkai.

Yes, he had a rare birth-gift passed down through generations of his ancestors, but no, he was not a Shinobi, and had no intention of ever taking that path. His Kekkei Genkai had been passed to him from his Mother's line, but his father was from a long and proud line of military men, and had spent the better part of Takeshi's childhood instilling in him that Shinobi were a scourge on the face of the earth; reckless busybodies with too much power and too little control, who would eventually tear this world apart with their unrestrained and lawless warring.

And so, after years of brainwashing at the hands of his father Takeshi had taken the Military route, much to his father's delight, and to his mother's chagrin. Of course, despite his programmed distaste of all things Shinobi, his Kekkei Genkai had saved his hide more than once during his line of work.

Naturally, being able to see in the dark was a valuable ability for anyone to have.

And right now he was more than thankful for it.

The valley began to form in his vision with sharp focus, every curve of the cliff-face, every boulder, every stray pebble was illuminated before him, shining brightly through the darkness as if they had been coated with a thick sheen of glow in the dark paint.

He smiled, a cold and malicious expression which bared his teeth and made his eyes appear even crueller than usual, and for once the dark was a blessing; for had any creature or person been able to witness it they would likely have been terrified half to death by that look alone.

Just ahead of him he could see the shapes of the three dogs sniffing at the ground and following the faint trail they caught. Suddenly they took off again in unison. He raised his head to scope the far edge of the valley.

Far ahead in the horizon of his vision a small movement caught his attention.

He sprinted forward, hurtling full speed into the dark.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke felt Sakura's hand shift against his shoulder as he led her through the rock labyrinth as quickly as was possible without injuring themselves.

He was rather pleased with the progress they were making, and from what he could see with the limited vision of his Sharingan, he approximated that they were about halfway across the valley floor. He guessed they could only have been moving through the darkness for about 15 minutes or so, so he was hopeful that within a very short time they would be back safely within the borders of Fire. From what he could tell by the brief glimpse he had of the map earlier, the border between the two countries was almost immediately beyond the edge of the valley, and combined with the fact that he had heard no sound of their pursuers yet at their heels, he was slowly beginning to allow himself to relax into the idea that they may actually escape this ordeal unscathed.

Sakura had been unusually quiet behind him, but Sasuke imagined that would be a typical reaction to suddenly finding yourself completely blind and reliant on another for such a simple task as walking. He surmised that she would be using every one of her other four senses to their full extent to gain even the slightest advantage for herself.

Her hand shifted against his shoulder once more, and he moved his own hand back up to cover hers in reassurance.

"You doing ok?" he called quietly over his shoulder.

_Oomph._ Shit. He almost lost his footing as his ankle turned on a rock that had been lying in the middle of the path. It was taking his full concentration just to navigate through this place.

He came to a stop and moved and stretched his ankle about, to make sure he wasn't injured.

Thankfully it seemed fine, but . . .

That was when it dawned on him that he had heard no reply from Sakura.

She had definitely stopped behind him when he had. He still had his hand over hers so he knew she was still there.

"Sakura?"

He squeezed her hand to try to elicit a response from her.

And that's when his heart almost stopped, and a long, cold shiver ran down his spine.

It suddenly dawned on him that the hand he was holding was nothing like the slim, feminine paw of an attractive young lady. Granted, he hadn't spent a lot of time studying Sakura's hands, but he was pretty sure her hands were not that large. Nor that calloused. Nor were her knuckles that big. And he was pretty god-damn sure she didn't have any hair on them.

Now that he was concentrating, it was pretty obvious that he was holding a man's hand. And if the thought of holding another man's hand in a dark place wasn't creeping him out enough, he was also trying to figure out when and where the hell had he lost Sakura, and who the hell was this man that was just calmly walking along with him in the dark.

Feeling the tiny hairs on the back of his neck prickle up with fear, he slowly turned to face the person whose hand he still held against his own shoulder . . .

. . . and found himself staring into two very distinctive spinning tomoe.

"Hello. . ."

At the sound of that voice alone Sasuke nearly had a heart attack.

". . . foolish little brother."

* * *

There was only one word which could describe the way that Sakura was feeling right now.

That word was TERRIFIED.

The sensation of being blind was the most helpless feeling she had ever experienced in her life. Sure she may have been one of the strongest kunoichi around, but what good was that when she couldn't even see what she was swinging at? She couldn't just go bashing around indiscriminately if they found themselves being attacked because without the use of her vision she couldn't be sure that it wasn't Sasuke she was aiming a deadly punch at. She was sorely tempted to create a chakra flare from her hand to light up the surrounding area so she could navigate for herself, but she knew that, first and foremost, that would reveal their position to the enemy, and secondly, would drain even more of her now short supply of chakra. Some of which would most definitely be needed for the trip home, and using it frivolously would be a foolish decision at a time like this, even _if_ using it to see for just a moment would help preserve her sanity. If this whole ordeal had taught her anything it was to have a newfound respect for the blind. She honestly didn't know how someone could live like this.

And on top of that she felt like crap. The mud had completely dried onto her skin and she felt like a walking statue. For that reason she was minutely glad that it was dark because she was certain she didn't look like the Venus de Milo either. More like a clay creation made by a small, short-sighted child.

With her current long list of grievances she tried to focus on any small positive thing to cheer her up. The one thing that she had to be thankful for right now was that it appeared that her eyes were finally beginning to adjust to the thick shadow, and although she certainly couldn't claim to _see_ anything, she could just make out a few vague shapes which were slightly darker than the rest of the landscape.

One of those dark blurs was Sasuke. She could just make out the outline of his distinctive haircut and his shoulders rising and falling as he walked in front of her. His shoulder felt warm and comforting beneath her hand. The muscles beneath her fingers were taut and tensed for action, and his shirt was damp and soaked through with his sweat. His hand was still on top of hers and this too felt clammy against her own, yet the simple connection of their bare skin was a welcome and necessary reminder that whatever happened, they were in this together. She squeezed his shoulder gently, and hoped the simple motion could provide him with some reassurance of his own.

They continued to walk that way for some time, the eerie silence that surrounded them broken only by the sound of her own heart beating in her ears, and the quiet breathing that guided her like a beacon through the ebony mist.

She was so busy concentrating on his steady breathing that the shock that she got when it stopped was dwarfed only by the confusion she felt when she realised he had stopped altogether, and she had almost walked straight into the back of him. Quickly, confusion gave way to fear, as it dawned on her that whatever had caused him to stop must have frightened him pretty badly too, for he suddenly dropped his hand away from hers.

She could just make out his silhouette in the dark, as she saw and sensed him turn around to face her.

She was expecting him to warn her of danger, or pull her into a run, or throw them both to the ground, or just push her behind him and attack the unseen enemy.

But he just stood there, staring at her. Well, she presumed he was staring at her; of course, there was no way to tell in this damned infernal darkness. She strained her eyes to try to make out his features, but it was no use. Her eyes were completely useless to her in here, and the feeling of being unable to see his expression, unable to tell what emotion was on his face was becoming quite horrific for her.

"Sasuke?" She risked whispering.

No response. She now was certain that the suspense of his silence was going to drive her to insanity. She could not cope with this blindness any longer, and she had just made up her mind and begun to draw as little chakra as possible to her hand to form a flare when a violent sensation stopped her in her tracks.

She got a taste then, of what the blind must experience as matter of course. The full kick-in of her other four senses combining to replace the loss of the fifth. A sixth sense if you will, allowing what seemed the insensible to be sensed, the inaudible to be heard, the unseen to be seen, and things which would otherwise seem impossible were now suddenly in clear focus and horrifyingly real.

She _sensed_ it, a fraction of a second before she even felt his chakra spike sharply and saw the familiar flashing blue form in his hand, before she heard the birds chirping their frantic cry of death. And although it was the quickest chidori formation she had ever seen in her life, that fraction of a second's forewarning _just_ allowed her enough time to brace herself against the full impact of his attack.

Still, when it struck her the blow itself was even more powerful than she could have ever imagined, and for a frightening moment she feared that she had miscalculated the strength of the chakra barrier she had enveloped her vital organs in. All she could think was that she should have used all but the last speck of her remaining chakra to protect herself, the trip home be damned. This was her life, her one chance to protect herself from inevitable mortality, and she had held back? For that moment the familiar old feelings of failure that she had experienced so often as a child when competing against this very man before her now returned, and she realised something that she had known sub-consciously all her life... Sasuke _would_ be the end of her.

And then all thoughts were gone. There was nothing left but pure unadulterated pain, searing through her, and she felt herself falling, falling for what seemed like an eternity.

And her whole world turned to darkness.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes.

He had hit Itachi squarely in the chest with the full force of his chidori, then watched his powerful brother turn to ash and dust before his very eyes.

How many times had he had that very dream as a young man?

Too many to count.

And how many times had he fought Itachi in reality and been evaded time and time again? How many times had he swung and missed, how frustrated had he become by his seemingly invincible brother and his effortless way in battle, the man who seemed to not fight, but merely dance through the moves with a bored and indifferent expression glued to his face?

No, something was definitely not right here. This success had been far too easy.

He spun around, trying in vain to will his eyes into seeing further through the black abyss which surrounded him, certain that Itachi was about to fly out of the shadows at any moment and seal his victory.

As he scanned the area surrounding him, he happened upon a small nook in the surface of the valley wall. He darted quickly over to it, constantly checking his back and sides for any sign of a sneak attack. When he reached the nook he could see it was just big enough to fit a person, it was darker than the rest of the valley, and surrounded by a scattering of boulders and rocks which shielded it to an extent from the rest of the valley. He climbed down into the little crevasse and tucked his knees inside with him.

Yes, this was where he would hide and watch for enemies. Itachi hadn't been able to get him, but if his long-dead brother could manifest before him looking as real as the day of his death, then who knew what other horrors this dreaded place was capable of?

The crevasse he was in was just the perfect size for him to hide in. As he sat scanning the area before him he wondered how many other poor souls had cowered in this very spot, while their nightmares had transformed to reality before their very eyes?

Well he too would wait.

And let his nightmares come to him.

* * *

A strange noise stirred her.

Her face was pressed against the cold earth, and the most overwhelming sensation she felt was the taste of a combination of the chalky flavour of dust and dirt, and the metallic heat of her own blood filling her mouth. Her body ached with fatigue, her eyes were closed, and the unusual sound which was growing louder every second was the only thing she could hear. It sounded like a rasping cough, incessant and drilling into her head which was pounding like crazy right now.

The coughing sound grew even louder, more determined in her ears.

She couldn't get her mind around what it was. It gained in speed now, and as she listened more carefully she thought it sounded like there was more than one, the slightly different tones morphing into one another as they carried across the echoing valley. The sound was definitely aggressive. She felt the fear trembling through her with a shudder as the violent snarls and rough grunts and cough-like noises reverberated even more clearly now, all laced with intent to kill.

In a miscalculation caused by sheer heart-gripping terror she ran blindly in the opposite direction of the horrifying noise, the clipped and vicious rasps she could hear unnervingly close were enough to make her forget all her extensive training on the subject of how to react in the case of pursuit by an unknown entity. Her legs were moving of their own accord and seemed to be quite successful at moving her as far away from the danger as possible until she felt that familiar feeling of lost footing, and found herself tumbling forward to impact with the ground with a bone-jarring _thud._

Where her hands had landed splayed out in front of her, she suddenly experienced the relief of vision.

She could _see_ her fingertips. Glowing very dimly in a pale blue.

It was the light. The glorious white light of the stars had found their way to her.

For a moment she lay there, smiling up at the stars and basking in the joy that she felt at finally being able to see again.

A second later, and she wished she still couldn't.

Out of the shadows which still lay draped over the valley came a creature of mythical ungodliness that looked as if it had crawled its way out of the underworld itself.

It had jagged, scaly skin which seemed to glow under the faint light of the stars, and four legs with enormous sharp claws which tapped and dragged against the rocky ground beneath its paws as it moved. Its grotesque head was dominated by a too-big mouth full of razor sharp pointed teeth, surrounded by rotting, bleeding red gums.

But it was the eyes which terrified her most intensely. They glowed red and bright out of the darkness, bloodshot and crazed, revealing the soullessness of the thing before her.

She backed up, horrified with terror towards the wall of the valley which she knew was behind her, though it seemed to be taking a lifetime to reach it. But she could not tear her eyes from the putrid beast before her to check, and when she finally felt the cold wall of granite press against her back, she was too afraid to feel relief, as the thing continued towards her without pause.

Its eyes did not look at her directly though; they continued their crazed motions scanned the general are in which she was. Its nose however, worked furiously inhaling the scent of the air before it. Unfortunately, it seemed to be leading the thing directly to her, as it stopped less than a foot in front of her.

Her heart felt as though it were about to tear its way out of her burning throat at any second and reveal her to the monster. Putrid green slime oozed out of its gaping double mouths between razor-sharp fangs and dripped onto the ground below. She watched, horrified, as the foul smelling fluid sizzled and fumed as it burned a small hole into the earth it touched. She eased her protruding foot slowly and carefully back towards her body.

The giant beast continued to inhale the air around her, its nostrils flared and red; from this close Sakura could see the dried cracked flesh of its face, gashed too deep in some places and flaking in others as its huge sniffing nose crinkled and creased the skin surrounding it.

As she watched; already too horrified for _anything_ to come as a surprise at this stage; from the back of its neck, two identical heads grew out of each of its shoulders, just as foul and mutated as the first, and immediately joined in with the incessant sniffing.

She cowered slowly closer against the wall behind her as its heads moved back and forth, even bumping together once or twice in its determination to find her.

For some reason it _couldn't_ find her though. She had thought she was surely doomed, but yet something seemed to be shielding her scent from the creature. She caught sight of her arm in the corner of her eye then (her eyes were still not able to leave the sight before her) and suddenly recalled that she was covered in dirt from head to toe.

So the dirt was covering her natural scent. She relaxed at the thought, but only by a fraction. There were still other things that could give her away. She had kept her mouth closed and was breathing as little as possible. She dare not open her mouth, as the scent of blood from where she had bitten her tongue when Sasuke chidori'd her would give her away in a heartbeat.

Now she just had sit as still as she could till the creature found another distraction.

That's when the chirping started again.

_No!_

Suddenly, a short distance away from her towards the opposite side of the valley, Sasuke's silhouette was illuminated by the blue charge which was currently growing from the palm of his hand.

_No, Sasuke!_

Her mind screamed out at him, though her throat was still rendered mute with terror, as the three heads turned sharply in unison in his direction, then were followed quickly by its giant body as it hurtled itself towards him, having finally found something of interest to pursue.

They approached him swiftly, and she braced herself for the worst.

The bright blue flare of his chidori was awe-inspiring. It lit nearly the entire stretch of the ebony valley in a radiant turquoise glow, its innermost walls of rock and shale being illuminated for possibly the first time in their existence.

The shockwave that rippled away from Sasuke's silhouette happened so quickly and intensely, it was like the flash of a camera; a snapshot which exposed the horrified faces of the approaching Sergeant Takeshi Kudo and his three dogs as they all reared in shock and terror; and imprinted the image into Sakura's mind.

And then they were blown away. Thrown violently to the other side of the valley amidst a hurricane of shingle and stones, and great eddies of dust and fog, which Sakura could only hope would help cushion their no doubt painful landing.

There was no time for concern over her enemies however, as Sasuke spun out of his stance and began to hobble as quickly as he could towards the countries natural border, the end of the rocky valley, and the return to the green foliage of Fire Country. She hurried to his side and flung her arm around his waist and shouldered some of his weight to allow him to use her as a crutch.

Finally they crossed the border enough that they were comfortable to turn and watch as the destruction they had left behind them slowly began to settle back into its ebony normality once again.

Then, tired, exhausted, dirty, and rendered mute with fatigue they turned to the West, and pumped the remainder of their waning supply of chakra to their legs for the final stretch home.

**

* * *

**

* * *

The trip home was relatively short, and - compared with what they had been through over the last few days - had been a relaxing journey. They had both run as fast as they were able to on their remaining supply of chakra, and had taken to the trees as soon as they became dense enough as they approached closer to Konoha. They were no longer masking their chakra, nor keeping up a pretence of any kind, as their cover had long been blown they could see no point. All they wanted was to get home a swiftly as possible. It had gone without a hitch.

Neither had uttered a word during their entire journey, partially because they were both almost incapable of speaking anyway due to using the full concentration of their chakra to travel, but mostly because neither one was willing to speak first.

As they entered the dark and quiet early morning streets of Konoha however, and Sakura gave the Hokage tower a wide berth before continuing without pause towards her apartment block, Sasuke's curiosity got the better of him. He waited just outside the little rusty gate that stood between her humble front garden and the dusty street, and as she ascended her front steps and reached her keys toward the burgundy door he found himself unwilling to part with her on these silent terms.

"Shouldn't we-"

"-Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Aren't we going to report to Tsunade?"

"No. I'm going to bed."

"But-"

"_-I can't see my shishou like this!"_ she turned on him suddenly and hissed at him angrily, grasping the hem of her torn dress and throwing it up disgustedly as if were some kind of diseased rag.

Sasuke just stared at her, baffled. Women were so strange sometimes . . .

"Look, _I'm_ the mission leader and _I_ say we shall report to her in the morning . . . . We're not even supposed to be back till tomorrow anyway." She ascended the last step and grasped hold of her door handle. She looked back at him testily over one shoulder. "If I were you, I would get some sleep."

She went to enter her apartment, but paused suddenly and turned back to look at him with a raised eyebrow that was probably pink and perfectly manicured, but at the moment was brown and still clogged with mud. "I don't know why you're in such a hurry to see her anyway . . . she's probably going to tear you to shreds!"

And with that she was gone, slamming the door in her wake.

So Sasuke did the only thing he could do. He turned and headed home.

**

* * *

**

Sakura stood leaning against her door as she listened to the Uchiha's footfalls drawing away from her front yard.

She knew it was wrong not to report directly to Tsunade. But she _couldn't_.

Number one, she was exhausted, and the thought of having to break the news of their failure _and_ having to listen to Tsunade derailing Sasuke for an hour or two was the last thing in the world she wanted right now. All she wanted was to have a nice hot shower and wash away all of this filth and the memories of their mission, before falling into her nice soft, comfy bed and sleeping for about ten hours straight.

Number two – and yet probably most importantly of all – she was being truthful when she said to Sasuke she couldn't see her shishou like this. It wasn't just the mud and bruises and scratches and the fact that she had _ruined_ the beautiful dress that Tsunade had given her that she had promised to guard with her _life_ . . . it was the fact that she currently _reeked_ of sex. She knew it, and Tsunade would know it too. She would only have to take one look at her student to know that she was currently glowing with something other than the sheen of mud and sweat.

Also, her over-bearing sensei would take one look at the state of her and insist that she be allowed to examine her thoroughly herself for any internal injuries. That wouldn't have been so bad, except that Sakura knew from past experiences of examining Ino after a particularly rough night out on the town that to even a novice medic the signs of post-orgasmic activity within the body were glaringly obvious. Tsunade would know within seconds of touching her. That was the only problem with having such a crafty sensei. She couldn't hide _anything_ from her.

Sakura plodded from the front door through her living room and down the hall towards the bathroom, shedding her clothes along the way. She tossed the sopping brown bundle into the laundry room as she passed it and walked into the bathroom, where she leaned straight into the shower and spun the mixer to allow the water to run hot.

She sat on the lip of the bath while she waited for it to heat up, and reassured herself that she was doing the right thing. Yes, she would report to Tsunade after a long sleep-in and a satisfying breakfast and not a moment sooner.

I mean hey, wasn't it Einstein who said '_Why do today, what you can put off until tomorrow'_?

**

* * *

**

Sasuke took his time as he strolled down one of Konoha's narrower streets on his way back to the Uchiha complex. His hands were thrust characteristically deep into his pockets, and he wore a thoughtful expression on his face as he pondered over all that had occurred in the past forty-eight hours or so.

Ok, he had fucked up. He didn't admit his weaknesses out loud much (because one of his weaknesses was that he didn't want anybody to know that he _did_, in fact, have weaknesses) but a _major_ weakness of his was that he _did not_ like to fuck up anything.

But this time, he readily admitted to himself that he had messed up big time. He had spent too long with the freedom that came with being a missing-nin, a rogue that didn't answer to anyone but himself, and he'd temporarily forgotten that his actions had consequences that he now actually gave a shit about. For example, his imminent demotion. He would most certainly be sent back to the academy, forced to start again with the toddlers and the five year olds, and no doubt end up being the local joke; 'Ex-Sannin's apprentice, Elite-nin, Ruthless killer, Multi-Sharingan-wielding Uchiha, Fire Technique Jutsu-ist and 'World's No. 1 Sexiest Missing-nin as voted by ShinobIchi Magazine'-shinobi' practicing stick fighting with kids and trying to prove that he _did_ in fact know how to perform a transformation jutsu to some pretentious pup of a Chuunin teacher whom he could probably kill with his little finger if he so desired.

Sasuke sighed. Yes, as far as his career was concerned the foreseeable future looked very humiliating indeed.

But, the question that Sasuke had been trying to answer for the last half an hour as he'd wandered aimlessly through the streets, was why, for some _crazy_ reason, could he not find the will to care?

He'd inexplicably accepted his fate with little fuss, and it irritated him greatly, because he _wanted_ to be pissed off but he could not for the life of him shake off the feeling of pure happiness he felt right now.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he realised he didn't actually _care_ what happened to him now. No demotion, embarrassment or other such punishment from Tsunade could take this wonderful feeling away from him. He had finally found someone that he cared for more than his own life, and it didn't matter what rank he was or how long it was going to take for him to finally become a Jounin for Konoha, because he had the rest of his life to work at it, and he could share every day of it with the woman he loved.

He suddenly realised he had stopped walking and was just standing stationary in the middle of the street.

He had been walking home, but why? Delaying the inevitable wasn't going to change anything, and, quite frankly, he would rather get it over and done with and learn of his fate right now. He and Sakura had both made it back alive and unharmed in the end, and as far as he was concerned that was the most important thing.

He just prayed that Tsunade would see things the same way.

He turned around and headed back towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Sakura cooed with pleasure as the hot water cascaded down her hair and back and soothed her tired, aching muscles.

For a glorious moment she just stood there, and allowed the blanket of water gushing over her to block out any of the torrent of thoughts which threatened to burst forth into the forefront of her mind at any second.

Of course, she was dreaming if she thought it would last.

Slowly but surely, her mind began to wander to all that had happened over the past couple of days, and the sudden unexpected intensity of this new 'situation' with Sasuke. It felt as if she had been on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the entirety of this mission, and only now that the ride had finished and she was back with two feet on the ground did the dizzying feeling begin to set in, and left her experiencing a bizarre combination of elation and nausea.

And it was mostly when she thought about the events of this past evening and early morning that she felt the most troubled.

Her natural feminine insecurities had began to take over with a firm hold.

Where did they go from here? She had done two previously unthinkable things for her that evening.

Number one, she had failed her mission. Not the end of the world for her, of course, but potentially devastating for Sasuke.

And number two, she had given herself to a team-mate, in the middle of a field, in the middle of a _mission_, in the middle of a _WAR_.

Ok, well maybe not a war. But certainly a battle, and a battle that had resulted in the pursuit of them for immediate extermination!

Her mind began to spin again, this time with the complications that would arise from the consequences of their actions this evening. She tried to put things into perspective rationally.

1. Sasuke was going to lose his rank and would be busted back to the Academy, that was a given.

But, did that really matter? It didn't matter to her whether he was a Jounin or a stable boy; he was still the same Sasuke to her.

2. She would be reprimanded for failing the mission.

She already knew that Tsunade would not be too harsh on her, the woman was practically like a mother to her and would never punish her unless absolutely necessary. And the only reason it would be necessary would be if the council ordered her to be punished because of serious consequences to Konoha due to her actions, which led to...

3. Would there be serious consequences for Konoha?

Everyone knew that public relations between Fire and Lightning were not exactly what you would call 'friendly'. In fact there had been bad blood between them ever since the plot to kidnap Hinata, the Hyuuga heiress years ago. So hey, what was one more issue between old enemies?

So, when she thought about it, that really only left one thing that could tip the balance.

How would Sasuke react to being demoted?

Her head drooped against the shower wall as reality sunk in.

Based purely on past behaviour, Sakura didn't think there was much hope for things to turn out all right after all.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke stood motionless in front of the double doors that lead into the Godaime's office.

For a brief second he thought seriously about backing out. He could just turn around now, go back home and spend what little remained of the early hours of the morning trying to come up with a sufficient story that might miraculously cause the Godaime to go easy on him. He was also certain that it would be better for him to wait till he had Sakura with him to see the Hokage. Her young apprentice seemed to have a somewhat calming affect on Tsunade's infamous temper, and he was most certainly not doing himself any favours by reporting to her alone.

But no, it was too late to back out now. He had come this far, and he was determined to get this over and done with as soon as possible, so that he could accept the consequences of his actions and start to rebuild his life in Konoha and his career as soon as possible.

He slowly lifted his hand from his side, and knocked on the ominous doors before him.

At first there was no reply, and for a brief second he thought he had gotten lucky and she wasn't in her office yet. But then after a moment he heard the distinct bark of the Hokage's voice calling through the doors.

"Come in."

Sasuke took a deep breath, held his head high, and pushed his shoulders back.

Then he grasped hold of the door handle . . .

. . . and walked into the Lion's den.

* * *

**Thankyou to all my loyal readers who have been trying to get me to put a new chapter out for a very long time! I hope you are still reading! :)**

**Reviews are appreciated :)**


	12. Step Into My Parlour

**A/N: An extremely short chapter, but a very important one. Also just to prove that I am still here, and still writing! **

**p.s. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your lovely reviews. You guys are awesome. **

**

* * *

**

**Step into My Parlour (Said the Spider to the Fly)**

"Come in."

She looked up only briefly as her visitor entered, before returning to the papers she was working on at her desk. She recognised the Uchiha straight away and internally she reacted with surprise, wondering several things at once; why is he back so early/did something go wrong/where is Sakura/and why isn't _she_ here reporting to me/and on that note, more importantly, was something _wrong_ with Sakura?

However, she made sure to keep her expression nondescript, revealing no tell-tale sign of her inner thoughts as she continued writing furiously on the scrolls before her. It was a trick she had picked up long ago, near the beginning of her term, to always be writing on something when a subordinate entered the room. She found it made them nervous, put them on the back foot right away, and combined with her apparent disinterest in them made them squirm in their boots before her. A little bit of fear went a long way when trying to control what was, essentially, a colourful collection of talented killers.

And the man before her was certainly no exception to the rule. She could see him desperately _trying_ to contain his discomfort, but she could see the little give-aways nonetheless. The slightest scrape of his foot against the floor. The miniscule twitch of his fingers against his side. The impatient flickering of his eyes. All signs of his barely restrained self-control.

It amused her to see him like this, already clearly so different from the self-centred little upstart who had left her office barely three days earlier. Amused her, but also worried her somewhat.

A niggling little worry began to chew away at her mind. Had it been a mistake to force him into the normality of human emotion like this? She knew from personal experience how much love could influence your decisions on the battlefield, those who were generally fierce and unflinching warriors could be reduced to blithering messes when faced with decisions of the heart.

Well, she would have to cross that bridge when she came to it. There was no going back now, she had taken the Uchiha and turned him into a man full of emotion and feeling, and now, she would have to deal with the consequences of that transformation.

Beginning with his reaction to the little confession she had to make.

She raised her face and finally made eye contact with the talented young shinobi. As he inclined his head in a short bow she was surprised to see that his usually carefully schooled expression was obviously troubled, and her concern for Sakura swiftly overruled her composure.

"I'm surprised to see you back so early. Where is Sakura? Is she injured-"

"-She is fine, Lady Hokage – back in Konoha and asleep in her own bed is my guess."

"Then why, might I ask, are you here before me and not her?"

Sasuke took a moment before answering. "Forgive me, Tsunade-sama. Sakura doesn't know that I'm here. I've-" He cleared his throat, and the look on his face sent a very unwelcome and unnatural feeling down her spine, "-I've come . . . to tell you myself that . . . I have failed you, and that I intend to take full responsibility for that failure."

The Hokage struggled to remain her usual abrupt and dismissive self. "Whatever are you babbling about, Uchiha? I haven't the faintest idea of what you are trying to tell me. Get on with it."

There was a pause, and then;

"We failed the mission, -I . . . I failed the mission. Sakura is not responsible in anyway." He shifted awkwardly on his feet. "I was impatient and rash, I disobeyed direct orders from my team leader, I was . . . distracted-" Was that a blush she saw? "-and I allowed emotions to dictate my behaviour. I blew our cover. We were attacked and chased by the Daimyo's men."

He proceeded to tell his Hokage the entire story. Not a detail was left out; from their journey to Sorakara no hi, to Sakura's brilliance and talent at the ball, to his own jealousy and attack on the Prince, and even, with incredible awkwardness their "interaction" in the field. He had determined to himself that he must tell the Godaime the whole truth, no matter how hard it was for him. And so he did.

He took a deep breath as he concluded his report. "And so if it wasn't for my inexcusable actions the mission would have been a success. I nearly got both of us killed."

She stared at Sasuke mutely, half still trying to retain an authoritive front, and the other half completely mesmerised by how different this man before her was. It was unbelievable.

She had to stop herself from choking as the young Uchiha suddenly prostrated before her. "I am so very sorry, Lady Tsunade. I have let you down-"

She had to stop this now. "Sasuke-"

"-and I have let down Konoha. I know I fully deserve to be stripped of my Shinobi status, and I am fully ready to accept my responsibility for the failure of the mission, and therefore I am ready to accept any other punishment you or the elders feel I deserve. Even if it means I have to start at the very beginning again-"

"Sasuke-"

"-then so be it. Please accept my humblest apologies, and know that-"

"**SASUKE!**" Tsunade slammed her fist against the table as she rose to get his attention finally. "All I want right now is for you to shut up and let your Hokage get a word in!"

Sasuke bowed his head and prostrated further. "Sorry, Lady Hokage." He mumbled meekly.

Tsunade calmed herself down, reminding herself that she was really in no position to be yelling at him.

She clenched her fists at her sides briefly, before relaxing them again and sighing softly. "I have something to tell you myself."

Sasuke raised his head to look at her.

Tsunade took a deep breath, readying herself. She found it hard to bring herself to feel guilty since things had worked out so perfectly, yet she still couldn't help feeling slightly _despicable_ as she finally said it out loud.

"_Derwaznomashon._" Her first attempt came out mumbled and rushed through her teeth.

Sasuke's brow knitted in confusion. "I'm sorry?"

Tsunade sighed and forced herself to slow down, ridiculously suddenly feeling a little afraid of the man before her.

"There was . . ." she sighed again, "There was no mission."

. . .

"_What?_" Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"There. _Was. _No. Mission."


	13. Within Fire & The Fire Within

**Chapter 13 - Within Fire & the Fire Within**

"_WHAT?"_

Tsunade smirked inwardly at her apprentice's undisguised shock.

_(Nervous, Sakura?)_

"I said . . . you will be required to pose as a married couple . . . "

"- I heard you," Sakura rudely interrupted the Godaime, "but . . . " She faltered.

Tsunade watched as Sakura looked briefly at Sasuke. The stoic Uchiha's expression was, as usual, unreadable to say the least.

"But why me?" Sakura all but whined. "Why can't one of the other Kunoichi do it?"

"I _am_ the Hokage for a reason, Sakura," _(because that useless perve of a Toad Sage 'volunteered' me)_ the Godaime snapped, losing her patience now, "Don't you think that I have thought this over myself? I have a perfectly good reason for wanting the two of you on this mission."

_(Your future happiness, the future of the Uchiha clan, MY future sanity, to name just a few . . .)_

Sakura lowered her head and looked at her hands, not wanting to incite her shishou's infamous temper any further.

The Hokage stood and walked around to the front of her paper cluttered desk. She leaned back against the front edge and addressed the two shinobi in front of her.

"I have chosen you Sakura because the terms of Sasuke's probation state that he must be accompanied by a jounin level shinobi at all times whilst on a mission _(and because you're the only one capable of breaking through that boy's stony exterior)_. Also, because the two of you were in the same team before Sasuke left I would hope that you should feel comfortable working together and have some knowledge of each other's technique." _(and if not, you certainly will after this!)_

"Also it goes without saying, it would be advantageous to have a medic on the team in case it gets a little rough. I have chosen Sasuke because as he is still on probation he needs every opportunity he can get to rise back through the ranks. _(And he needs every opportunity to get a rise back in his pants. Heheh)_ Also, as simple as this mission may seem, there is always the chance that things could . . ._ (get heated, dirty, intimate, turn out exactly the way I want) _. . . turn ugly. Sasuke may only be a Genin now, which, with this mission being of C-rank is the highest level of shinobi I am willing to spare for such a small fee _(and I want the brat to finally get hitched and have little angsty brats of his own so that he'll have no fucking excuse to desert his village again)_, but in terms of skill he is easily at jounin level."

She turned to the last of the Uchiha and smirked at him deviously.

"It is also a punishment of sorts." _(I'll get you back for deserting your village you little prick)_

She addressed him with a highly amused expression on her face. "As you know, Sasuke, during your year of probation you are required to do any inane or unpleasant mission that I see fit, as a sort of . . . test of your renewed loyalty to Konoha."

"-I don't understand, Shishou," Sakura cut in, "how is this mission a punishment to Sasuke?"

Tsunade ignored her apprentice for the time being, and continued to address the dark-haired prodigy before her.

"I know very well that you have . . . _(mental problems)_, difficulty, _(you're screwed in the head, that's what)_ . . . expressing yourself and showing emotions and affections around others, Uchiha."

Sasuke remained silent, but began to glare at the Hokage as if he knew where this was going.

"In doing this mission you will be required to stay in character at _**all **_times. You must behave, travel, communicate, eat and _**sleep**_ as if you were a married couple."

Two sets of eyes shot up indignantly at her at that last statement. (_And so it begins, heheh_)

She ignored them and continued, "If you intend on staying in Konoha and rebuilding your clan _(oh Kami, do I really want tiny emo Uchiha-clones running around Konoha for heaven's sake)_ then you are going to have to work on those non-existent social skills of yours anyway _(and stop behaving like you've got a stick up your ass)._ This is the prime opportunity to push you out of your comfort zone, Uchiha. Sakura will help you _(oh, she's going to help you all right)_, and the two of you must keep up the appearance of a married couple at all times. You never know when someone may be watching you." _(Heh. If the two of you can't get it together on your own then I'll give you a both a helpful boot up the ass HAHAhehheh!)_

She walked forward and handed a scroll to Sakura.

"Sakura, you are team leader. You will find the objectives of the mission in full detail in here. You will leave early tomorrow morning. That is all." _(Hahah! Suckers)_

Both shinobi stood and moved towards the door. They didn't look at each other, and both were lost in their own train of thought. Sakura had already moved through the doorway and into the hall and Sasuke stepped forward to follow her, when he heard the Godaime speak again.

"Oh, and Uchiha . . ." she called out. _(You better look after her)_

Sasuke paused in the doorway and turned back to face her. Sakura had also stopped outside the door to hear what her shishou had to say. _(If she comes back injured in any way it will be your head, Uchiha)_

"Knowing how difficult this mission is going to be for you, I have decided that _**if**_ you succeed I will allow you to take the next chuunin exam so you may progress further in your career six months early." _(You'll need to be earning plenty of money for when the babies arrive)_

_(Kami I hope they take after her more than him)_

He looked up at her with a slightly surprised and incredulous look in his eyes.

"However," she continued sternly, "If you fail, I shall strip you of your Shinobi status and send you back to the academy. This mission could either be very lucrative or very detrimental to your career, Uchiha," she added sternly.

_(Either way, it's going to be __**very**__ good for your love-life, Uchiha)_

"So if I were you I would try not to fuck it up."

* * *

Tsunade watched the rain outside her window as it flooded the streets of Konoha, as she remembered the debriefing in her office three nights ago.

She knew it had been wrong to set her favourite student and her favourite village traitor up like that, but it was just too hard to feel guilty when she could see the results of her deviousness playing out so beautifully before her. It was almost too good to be true.

Sasuke would have a solid reason to stay in Konoha. The Uchiha clan, once one of the most powerful clans in all of Konoha would finally rise again, only this time, they would have a strong _and_ loving Mother and Father to keep them in line. Sakura would finally get her man, and maybe she would loosen up a little bit and begin to enjoy life.

And the reign of the Legendary Sucker would finally come to an end.

When Tsunade thought about how much money she was going to get off that tiresome old Toad Sage her eyes glistened and shone like two beautiful gold Ryo. When she had accepted Jiraiya's bet to get the two of them together within six months of Sasuke returning to the village she had never realised she was going to have such a battle on her hands. Despite clearly being attracted to one another they were both infuriatingly stubborn, and as the end of the six months approached and they had still barely shared more than a few words during training, Tsunade had realised she was going to have to get drastic.

And right now, here in her office was half of the result of her epiphany. An emotional, glowing, hormonal, love-struck, poly-syllabic - dare she say it- _talkative_ even, Sasuke Uchiha.

Ok, so right now he was burning holes into her skin with rage-fuelled acid rays from his eyes, and she could swear he was on the verge of scraping his hoof across the ground before charging at her like a wounded bull and tossing her out the window to the streets below like a rag-doll, but she was ok with that.

Because she had finally won a bet.

Of course, it wasn't all about the gamble, even though it was common knowledge that she couldn't refuse a bet no matter how improbable the odds were. The elders had been putting pressure on her to find a wife for Sasuke as soon as possible, for dual reasons. They didn't want to run the risk of having the formidable shinobi as an adversary again, and wanted to regain his emotional ties with the village as soon as possible.

They also desired the rebuilding of the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha had once been Konoha's number one defence against a foreign attack, to the point where the village had the reputation far and wide of being impenetrable – attack would not even be considered as long as the mighty Uchiha defended them. The elders wanted this strength again, and had advised the Godaime in no short terms that it was her responsibility to make it happen.

And so, one sunny afternoon when she stood on the balcony at Aisu Bar with Jiraiya watching the newly reformed Team Seven training, and her old teammate made her an offer she couldn't refuse, everything seemed to fall into place. Here was an opportunity to make things right for everybody, and maybe even lose the irritating nickname that she had been endowed with long ago.

And of course, there was Sakura. As her shisou watched the girl who was so like herself, she knew that there was something desperately missing in the young woman's life - as much as Sakura herself would never admit it. Yes, she had become an incredibly powerful shinobi - an apprentice that Tsunade was overwhelmingly proud of – yet the Godaime sensed a deep loneliness within the girl. She had put her studies and her career ahead of her own needs all her life, but it was time for her to find some inner happiness. Tsunade knew how painful and lonely the quiet moments of life could be for herself, and she did not want to see her bright apprentice share her fate.

And, as much as Tsunade was loathe to admit it, the fuming man standing before her now was perfect for Sakura. He was strong enough to hold his own against the feisty medic, yet his more reserved nature would ground her when she needed it most. And although her apprentice had been in denial for quite some time, Tsunade had known that deep down Sakura was still in love with Sasuke, even after all these years apart.

The Hokage could understand the attraction. The man before her had grown into a handsome young man. He looked very much like his tragic elder brother.

His piercing dark eyes bore into her now, and although he was trying to project a furious image the Hokage could see that it was a thinly veiled cover for his utter confusion.

She decided to play it cool. She raised one eyebrow, as if challenging the Uchiha to unleash his anger on her.

The facade dropped from his face almost immediately.

"But . . . Hokage-sama, I don't understand. Why the hell would you send us to such a dangerous place for no good reason?" His brow knitted further as he realised something else, and he looked accusingly at the Godaime as he ground out, "You nearly got us killed!"

The Hokage rose in anger. "Well I never expected you to be such a Kami-damned love-stricken fool, did I!" She was defensive now, probably because she did feel partially guilty, "It was supposed to be an easy in and out job, no danger whatsoever. The Daimyo was well aware that you were coming. How do you think I got the ball tickets for you? He owed me a favour and this was the perfect opportunity for him to pay it back."

She felt unusually horrid for doing it, but she needed an out to this conversation, and the best way to do it was to put the blame back onto him. "You almost strangled a high-profile prince to death, Sasuke. Did you honestly think you would get away with it lightly? I may have sent you on a fake mission but you did a bloody good job of almost turning that into a war!" She took a deep breath, and her stance softened. "Ok, I admit, I wanted to give the two of you a push in the right direction by forcing you into an uncomfortable situation together. And I guess, when you were pushed out of your comfort zone you had some kind of an . . . episode . . . that I didn't count on. But it was for the best. You see that don't you? Don't you feel liberated?"

Sasuke just stared thoughtfully at the floor.

"Say something, damn it."

He sighed, and slowly looked up to face her. She was surprised to see a serene, peaceful expression on his face.

"You know something?" He sighed. "You're right."

Tsunade blinked.

"You're absolutely right." He chuckled once under his breath. "I do feel liberated. And now if you don't mind, with my newfound freedom, I would like to go and spend my time exploring these new . . . feelings."

He faced her directly, bowing deeply before rising again to look her in the eye.

"I think I can finally see why they made you Hokage."

* * *

Sakura's tired reflection stared mockingly out of the mirror at her, and her reality in the fluffy white bathrobe just stared stubbornly back. She didn't like the way that reflection was looking at her. It seemed to be laughing at her somehow. Not overtly, of course, but it was in the little bruises that she could see in various places on her face and body that were evidence to the failure of her mission. It was in the swell of her lips which reminded her of velvet tongues under the moonlight. But most of all it was in the deep crease between her eyes, the indication of her complete and utter confusion.

Where the hell did she go from here? Years ago she had dreamed many times about what it would be like to finally make the Uchiha fall in love with her. But her dreams had always been a naive girl's fantasy; something probably involving Sasuke riding up to her on a white stallion, sweeping her into his arms and riding off into the sunset. She had never thought any further than the getting. But she realised now that it was what came after the getting that was the most difficult part.

She knew inside her heart that Sasuke had fallen in love with her over the past days. Just saying that to herself sounded utterly absurd, like it was another one of her fantasies – but nevertheless she knew it to be true.

But there was a big resonding question in her head. And she needed to answer it quickly.

_Was she in love with him_?

She cared for him deeply, of course –she always had. But did her affections cross that line into love as his did? She could not seem to answer that question right now. She had a sneaky suspicion that it was in there somewhere, lurking around and waiting for the most inopportune time to reveal itself.

She ran a lazy hand down her face and as she did became all too aware of the slight shadows beneath her eyes. Whatever her feelings were would have to wait till later. Right now she needed sleep.

She opened the bathroom door and stepped into her bedroom as the previously contained steam poured slowly after her. She walked the short distance to her dresser and pulled out a clean pair of pyjamas, and had just opened up her robe to get changed into them when she suddenly felt an all too familiar chakra burst into her senses in a sharp jolt, before disappearing again.

She quickly closed her robe and turned in the direction she had felt it. One of her curtains had taken on a rather strange shape, and she had a pretty good idea why.

"See, I knew you were a pervert!" She yelled at the curtain, "Show yourself!"

Suddenly his chakra swelled back to her again as Sasuke cautiously emerged from behind the curtain. He held his hand up defensively. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I just wasn't expecting a strip show."

She amazed even herself by being too tired to scold him. Instead she just walked over to her bed and climbed under the covers. She didn't look at him as she asked, "What are you doing here, Sasuke? I thought you were going home."

"To be honest, I don't really know. I just thought we shouldn't leave things like this." He paused, trying to guage her reaction. "I thought we should talk about it."

"So talk."

He shifted on his feet. This wasn't really going as he'd imagined it. "Can I at least sit down?"

She sighed. After thinking about it for a second she finally looked up at him for the first time. Her expression softened slightly and she nodded her head towards the bed beside her in invitation.

He climbed onto the bed beside her and shuffled around a little until he was comfortable.

They sat like that in silence for a long while, each just lost in their own thoughts. Sakura waited quietly until he was ready to speak. When he finally did he surprised her completely.

"Do you remember what it was like after I left Konoha for the first time, the night you followed me?"

She looked up sharply as he broached such a sensitive subject. She nodded slowly, unsure of what would come next.

He began his next question cautiously, as if afraid of how she would react. "How...how did you feel when you woke up the next day and you knew I was gone for good?"

"How do you think I felt?" She cursed how her voice rose in that way that she despised, but she couldn't help it when he was making her relieve all of those feelings she had desperately tried to purge from her life. "I felt stunned. I felt humiliation. Rejection. Betrayal. Anger, I felt a lot of anger, I remember that clearly." She twirled her hair around her finger nervously as she remembered more and more. "But mostly, even though I did feel all of those other things, I think mostly what I felt was this crippling numbness. Like I could lie in bed for the rest of my life and it wouldn't matter to me. I was in shock. But that feeling dulled gradually, and then I had to get on with my life."

He sat silently nodding at his hands lightly clasped in his lap.

"Those feelings you had - like you're in shock – that's how it felt."

She waited patiently for him to continue.

"The night Itachi . . killed our parents . . . that night I felt the same thing, but a _thousand_-fold." He hung his head as the feelings flooded back to him as intensely as the day it happened. "It's like you don't know who you are. Like you've completely lost control of your life. You had obligations and alliances that forced you to return to normality, but me, I didn't have anyone to comfort me. Everyone I held dear to me in that instant was gone, never to return. I had to take care of myself and it's as if, I went into shock and I never snapped out. I've been in that shock my whole life, Sakura, never caring about anything or anyone but my revenge. And after I got it . . ."

He trailed off, staring out of her window and into the distance.

"Yes? After you got it . . ?" She prompted him.

"Well, I sort felt . . . empty."

"Empty?"

"Yes."

He turned to her and smiled tenderly, in a way that a week ago Sakura would never have imagined in a million years that he would be capable of. She smiled back as she felt her heart clench painfully.

"Until now." He reached out and placed her hand lightly in his own.

"I never thought I would be capable of feeling this way about anyone, Sakura."

He sighed contentedly, then leaned forward and rested his head against her chest. She embraced him, placing one hand on his head and twisting tiny strands of jet black hair as she stroked his head and kissed his forehead softly.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before. Kami, what was wrong with me?" She was shocked to hear how chocked his voice sounded. "So many people, people who I've mistreated and ignored and neglected over the years. You all stood by me even though I didn't deserve any of it. You were all so sure I could be redeemed."

The corner of his lip drew up into a grin. "Even the Hokage, that crazy old witch. She knew it. Like she could see right through me from the minute I showed up here. I swear she's Freud reincarnated."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The mission. She made it all up. It was just a ploy to get the two of us together, and she knew if she forced us to interact like that . . . she knew that I would snap and finally figure out what I should have eight years ago. That crafty old bat. There never was any mission."

Sakura's eye twitched dangerously.

". . . what did you say?"

* * *

They lay together, entwined on her bed and basked in the moonlight that flooded through her window.

It had taken quite some time to calm Sakura down, and even more to stop her from marching to the Hokage tower right then and beating the living shit out of her shishou. But in the end he had explained it as he saw it and Sakura's tiredness had won over her need for revenge on the Godaime.

So now the two of them lay in silence with their thoughts. Sasuke had closed his eyes and Sakura took the opportunity to study the man more closely and try to get her head around her own feelings.

She had a feeling she had contributed to his intense relaxation by the way she was gently stroking her hand through his mane. She loved the way his ebony hair felt like liquid silk through her fingers.

A small contented sound escaped his lips at her ministrations and she looked up to his peaceful face. She noticed a tiny line between his eyes, the result of too much frowning no doubt. She loved the way his forehead creased and carved that vertical line between his eyes when he was concentrating hard.

As she looked on him she thought about others things she loved. She loved his arrogance and his stubbornness. She loved the feel of his rough warrior's hands on her delicate skin.

She loved . . . she loved . . .

She loved him.

She _loved_ him.

It all came flooding back to her then.

Suddenly she remembered exactly why she had been drawn to him in the first place.

She remembered her first day at the academy, looking out shyly from beneath her thick fringe at the many other members of her class, some shy and reserved like her, some talking to each other and making new friends, one strange boy who had brought his dog to class and was currently deep in conversation with it, a pretty girl who seemed even shyer than herself with blue-black hair and the strangest pearl-coloured eyes, and one loud over-eager blonde boy who was almost jumping out of his skin with excitement.

And it was then, as she gazed unknowingly upon her future family, that she saw him.

A quiet boy, sitting alone at the back of the room; a boy with black eyes and even blacker hair. Quiet . . . but not shy. He was staring off out the window with a terribly bored expression on his face, his thick black bangs perfectly framing his pale handsome face, seemingly oblivious to the throngs of twittering girls crowding near him.

She remembered as clear as day her feelings in that moment; her heart caught in her chest the second that her eyes fell upon him, and she didn't dare breathe for fear that he may vanish like some cruel apparition sent to tease her. Right then she felt as though she couldn't live without this person, her heart felt like it was dangerously close to exploding, and she knew in that instant that a little part of her had broken away from her soul and gone to him, and that she would never be whole again until they were together.

A single tear escaped from beneath her closed lid and ambled its way down her cheek, and she smiled.

She had been in denial these past years.

She had always loved him. She had never stopped loving him. She had just been lying to herself to try to ignore the pain that he had caused her when he walked out of her life all those years ago.

It made sense. Why had she never taken to anyone else since Sasuke had walked out of Konoha? Why had she discarded or passed by man after man after man as if she were comparing them against the one man they could never live up to in her mind?

Because she was.

And none of them ever even came close to measuring up.

As she leaned down to kiss his heavenly lips and he groaned softly as he pressed back against her, she knew that this time, the love they made together would be true. It would be passionate but tender, a gentle and all-consuming love that would bind them to each other for a lifetime. Through all of the adversity they had faced the crush of a naive girl had blossomed to full-fledged true love, and now they would take that love to new heights, for nothing could be a greater challenge than what they had already conquered.

* * *

**A/N: Hi guys :)**

**First of all I'm sorry this took so long to get to you, and I know it's far from perfect. I really struggled with writing the last few chapters of this, because it was my very first story I started on ff, and I was learning a lot along the way about my writing, also because I really am not a SasuSaku fan at all it was really hard to write something I didn't really believe in. But I felt I owed all you guys who have been reading and reviewing this loyally since the beginning to not leave the story hanging unfinished and at least tie it up as well as I could.**

**While I have been procrastinating over this one I have been busy writing lots of other stories about couples that I _am_ passionate about, one of which will be posted up shortly, it is a KakaSaku called _Intimacy_, so if you like that pairing please check it out.**

**As always I would love to hear your feedback, as I said this whole story was a big learning process for me, so reviews are appreciated.**

**And thank you so much to you guys who stuck around to see this through to the end! XD**

**Till next time. - O'smyman**


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